POLICE have been asked to investigate claims of proxy vote cheating in Nelson's fiercely-contested Whitefield ward.

Liberal Democrats say two of their supporters have lodged formal complaints after being informed that their votes would be cast by Labour Party campaigners on their behalf because they could not make it to the polling booth themselves on Thursday.

The Liberals say that in one case the man simply did not sign for a proxy and his signature was forged.

In the second they allege a woman voter was "tricked" into signing a proxy form by a neighbour, believing she was signing a sponsorship form.

Liberal election agent, David Hewitt, says he believes his party now has proof there has been proxy vote cheating by its political rivals.

But Labour agent, Coun Azar Ali, denies the charges and counter-accuses the Liberals of employing bullying tactics in the Asian-dominated ward.

He says the man, who claims he never signed a proxy, now accepts he did so.

"If he has changed his mind and now wants to support the Liberals, that is fine by us. But he certainly did sign for a proxy of his own free will."

Around 260 proxies have been issued for votes in the ward - 160 of them issued for Liberal Democrat support.

One one point both parties are agreed - it has been the most bruising local election in the town for years.

Meanwhile in Burnley's Daneshouse ward, Labour candidate, Rafique Malik, has called for the LibDems to extend their public apology to the 4,000 voters in the ward.

The Liberals have already sent out around 4,000 letters of apology to voters in two other wards where mistakes in their election leaflets gave the impression that candidates, including Mr Malik had personally received thousands of pounds of grant cash from the council.

Mr Malik says that although the leaflets were not aimed at Daneshouse, copies found their way to the district and several voters had raised the question.

"The impression that I have received money has been given in Daneshouse because of this leaflet and the Liberal Democrats, who admit they have done wrong, should redress the situation by informing the people of this ward of the truth," said Mr Malik.

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