Hyndburn Conservative candidate faces jail after being found guilty of electoral fraud

A former Conservative candidate faces jailed after being found guilty of electoral fraud.

Mohammed Navid Afzal, of Whalley Road, Accrington, was convicted by a jury at Preston Crown Court yesterday (May 3) following a five-day trial. The 41-year-old stood for the party in Great Harwood’s Netherton ward in the poll for Hyndburn Borough Council.

He was arrested in May 2022 after allegations were made about his conduct in local elections held earlier that month. Afzal was then charged in September 2022 with two counts of corrupt practice, relating to two signatures on his nomination papers being invalid.

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His trial began on Monday (April 29) and concluded yesterday when the jury found him guilty of one offence of fraud by corrupt practice in an election under the Representation of the People Act 1983.

A Hyndburn Police spokesperson said: "He was standing as a Conservative Party candidate for Netherton ward on 5th May 2022 in local elections in Hyndburn. Afzal submitted a nomination paper which showed 10 signatures of local voters agreeing to his nomination as candidate.

"The case against him was that one of those signatures was false and that Afzal knew it was false when he submitted it. Afzal will be sentenced at Burnley Crown Court on 21st June."