ACCRINGTON police are today looking into allegations of fraud made following the local election results.

Hyndburn Council's Labour group made the allegations after former councillor for the Central ward Sardar Ali lost his seat to Conservative newcomer Allah Dad.

Now the police are looking into the voting and carrying out checks to make sure there were no irregularities.

Detective Inspector Pete Broom said: "There is no investigation at this stage, but what we are doing is assisting the council in satisfying both them and us that the democratic process has not been interfered with.

"There is no evidence at the moment of any election fraud and our quality assurance checks are designed to ascertain whether such actions have taken place."

Today Hyndburn Council confirmed they were working with the police. In the checks, the police and council officers will make sure that everything is correct on samples of the voting forms for the ward.

Mr Ali lost his seat by just over 100 votes.

Today Coun Pollitt and Coun Ali were unavailable for comment, but Accrington Labour leader Councillor Jean Battle said: "The allegations have to be looked at, whether there is anything there or not. They are allegations and have to be investigated.

"It's a serious offence and this will draw a line as to whether they are true or not."

Coun Peter Britcliffe, leader of Hyndburn Council, said: "I understand the police are making what they call a quality assurance check on the vote in that area. It's very important to ensure the integrity of the vote when allegations have been made."