Electoral fraud: Young man pleads guilty to voting for Labour twice in the general election

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A man has pleaded guilty to breaking electoral law by voting for Labour twice in the general election.

Mohammad Zain Qureshi, 21, voted twice in the same constituency of Chingford and Woodford Green, Waltham Forest, during the election in June.

He was registered twice at his home address with a minor variation of his name.

After the election, Qureshi was identified as being behind a Twitter post made on polling day in which he declared he had voted twice for Labour.

He said he had voted once by postal vote and a second time in person at the polling station.

After pleading guilty, Qureshi was fined £150, ordered to pay £200 towards prosecution costs and also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £30.

DI Gail Granville, of the Special Enquiry Team, said: “This result demonstrates the Met’s commitment to ensuring free and fair elections for all of our communities.

“In this year’s election the team received over 70 allegations of electoral malpractice across many of the London boroughs. The majority of those do not constitute an offence; however in this case a thorough investigation has led to today’s successful conviction.

“In the run up to the local and mayoral elections in May 2018 we will continue to work closely with the CPS, the Electoral Commission and local authorities across London in a proactive and preventative capacity to protect the integrity of the electoral process in London.”