Councillor voted twice ‘not realising it was illegal’

A LABOUR councillor cautioned by police after he admitted voting twice in this year’s local elections yesterday claimed he did not know it was illegal to do so.

Faisal Rana, 51, who according to his Twitter account is a former paratrooper and Pakistani naval officer, took more than half the votes in his ward in May’s poll before being given his authority’s assistant finance portfolio.

Despite accepting a police caution after admitting electoral fraud, he retains his seat on Rochdale Borough Council. The council’s leader said Mr Rana had ‘stepped away’ from his cabinet responsibilities.

Yesterday businessman Mr Rana insisted he ‘didn’t realise’ that casting votes in two wards in the same council borough was an offence.

Electoral Commission rules state that if you are registered in two different local authority areas, you can vote twice – once for each council. However, you cannot vote twice at the same council poll.

Mr Rana, who owns ‘multiple properties’, was registered in both his Spotland and Falinge ward and also in Norden. They are both part of the Rochdale council area.

Amid calls for Mr Rana to stand down, the council’s Labour leader, Allen Brett, said: ‘Naturally, I am disappointed in Councillor Rana’s error because he is a very talented individual who shares our collective passion to improve our borough.’

Mr Rana said: ‘I have accepted a police caution for an electoral offence, which relates to me casting separate votes for two different wards in two different constituencies (Spotland and Falinge and Norden wards) in the local elections earlier this year. I did not realise this Faisal Rana: Cautioned by police was an offence and misinterpreted the rule that says it is possible to vote in two different electoral areas.

‘I sincerely apologise for this genuine mistake. I now want to put this behind me and concentrate fully on serving the people in my ward.’

Mr Rana’s Twitter account describes him as ‘ Military & Defence Analyst, Retired Naval Officer, Paratrooper, Company Director’ and features a photograph of him wearing three medals and a winged paratrooper badge.

Rochdale’s Lib Dem group leader, Andy Kelly, described Mr Rana’s punishment as ‘lenient’ and told the Rochdale Online website: ‘If he had any moral fibre, he would resign.’

The complaint is understood to have been made to police by Mr Rana’s defeated opponent, independent candidate Carl Faulkner, who received 852 votes to 1,777, after he became suspicious.

Greater Manchester Police said: ‘On Monday, a 51-year-man was cautioned with engaging in an act at an election intending to deprive another of a vote contrary to the Representations of the People Act.’