Labour MP lodges ‘vote rigging’ complaint

A FORMER Labour shadow minister who was deselected as an MP by party members has lodged a formal complaint alleging “vote rigging”.

Sam Tarry, who helped to organise Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign, was deselected more than a year ago in the Ilford South constituency with members voting 499 to 361 to select Jas Athwal, the leader of Redbridge Council, at a hustings.

Every local Labour branch in the area voted to trigger a full reselection process, but Tarry has claimed he was stitched up by the party’s online Anonyvoter system.

Tarry – who was sacked from Labour’s frontbench after giving interviews from an RMT picket line – is considering taking legal action to obtain Anonyvoter records and may seek an injunction to block Athwal from being the Labour candidate.

He has lodged a complaint that states during campaigning, his team found lots of people who were not living at the addresses they were registered to on the membership system.

Tarry’s team then compared the records with the electoral register and apparently identified a significant number of members not listed on the electoral register at the addresses on a membership list provided to him.

Tarry says he then became aware that some of the properties were rentals owned by Redbridge councillors. Some of the members identified during this process had apparently applied for postal or electronic votes, as they appeared on the postal voters list provided to him.

Tarry’s complaint to Labour alleges that Athwal was one of the Labour councillors who owned a property where Labour members were listed as living, and who had indicated they would vote for Athwal.

Athwal has refuted the allegations saying they are “untrue and baseless”.

A Labour spokesperson said: “The Labour Party has full confidence in the integrity of the Ilford South selection process. We always investigate concerns that are raised and we reject the allegations that have been made.”