A NATIONWIDE experiment in postal voting started yesterday at the same time as the first postal ballot fraud investigation of the election opened.

A Conservative councillor in a Labour-held marginal seat is facing an inquiry into the number of people registered for postal votes at two addresses.

Jamshed Khan, a councillor in Bradford, faces questioning after The Times discovered 13 voters registered at his six-bedroom home, all of whom have applied for postal votes. A further 12, of whom half have applied for postal votes, are registered at a derelict house that he recently co-owned.

The disclosure coincides with evidence that postal vote applications have shot up in marginal constituencies in the past few days, apparently a result of efforts by all parties to boost turnout. About 6.5 million ballot papers started arriving yesterday, allowing 15.5 per cent of the electorate to begin voting. The deadline for postal vote applications is 5pm today.

All the parties will be urging people to use postal votes this week, as evidence shows that 80 per cent of those who apply for postal ballots actually vote.

In Brent East, a Labour target, postal vote applications have jumped by more than a third, up by 1,000 from 2,582 ten days ago. In Basingstoke, applications rose from 11,904 on April 13 to 13,599 yesterday.

Some returning officers are so concerned about political involvement in the process that they are urging all parties locally not to handle ballot papers.

David Cook, the returning officer at Kettering, where Labour is defending a 665 majority, reached agreement last night with four political parties to ensure that they did not take ballot papers to postboxes or council officers. The council has received 16,200 applications, more than five times the number in 2001.

After The Times’s inquiries in Bradford West, where Labour has a 4,165 majority, Councillor Khan insisted that 13 adults lived at his home, although another family member said that only seven lived there. Councillor Khan also denied that he had owned a derelict property where 12 people are registered to vote, although Land Registry records show that he was the co-owner until last year.

Philip Robinson, the returning officer for Bradford West, said that he would investigate before deciding whether to ask for a police inquiry.

The latest Times/ITV News daily tracker poll shows that three times as many people may use postal votes than four years ago, including an above-average number of Labour supporters. Nearly a quarter of Labour voters (23 per cent) say they have applied for a postal vote, compared with 19 per cent of Tories and 13 per cent of Liberal Democrats.

The Populus poll has Labour holding its strong position, at 41 per cent, for the third day. The Conservatives are up 1 point at 33 per cent, with the Lib Dems slipping 1 point to 19.

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