THE Town Hall elections exploded into controversy this week as an extreme Muslim sect hijacked a public debate and the council and Special Branch launched a major probe into allegations of postal fraud.

About a dozen police swooped on the Brady Centre in Whitechapel on Tuesday night after it was taken over by the radical Islamist group al-Ghurabaa, which wants to rid Britain of democracy and which last year tried to briefly abduct MP George Galloway.

As officers dealt with the melee, one sect member, who had been shouting that only Allah had the right to make laws, threatened to beat up a press photographer.

The trouble flared just hours after Galloway's Respect party prepared to hand over a dossier of evidence of what they claim is suspicious manipulation of the postal vote system.

They say they have unearthed unusual patterns of address changes in the Tower Hamlets electoral register with one voter complaining his 'liberty has been lost'.

Under electoral law, it is legal to ask for a postal ballot form to be redirected to an address other than your own as long as it is completed in private by the voter.

However, Respect party officials have shown the Advertiser numerous examples of where dozens of postal ballot forms are being redirected to the same address.

Respect point out that most of the activity has been happening within the Bengali community.

Masud Ahmed, 31, contacted Respect after he received a letter from the council at his address in Mile End telling him postal votes for him and his wife were being sent to a house Ben Jonson Road, which is in a different ward of St Dunstan's and Stepney Green.

"I was told it was being sent to a flat in Solent House which I've never heard of," he said.

"The council are investigating, but I feel I've lost my liberty."

His sister and parents have also been unexpectedly told their ballot forms are being sent elsewhere.

Postal vote applications account for 12 per cent of the total electoral register with almost 5,000 arriving, many by hand, at the Town Hall in the last eight days before the registration deadline.

Wards that saw a surge in last minute applications included Limehouse, Shadwell and Bethnal Green South.

A Respect party official who handed his dossier to Special Branch yesterday (Wednesday), said: "Someone's trying to steal the election."

The council this week admitted that its systems had flagged up 'irregularities' over the Easter weekend.

A spokeswoman said: "We immediately launched a confidential postal vote probe with the police."

The council indicated in a statement to the Advertiser that the electoral law needed tightening.

Meanwhile, trouble at the Brady Centre hustings, which was attended by Galloway, Tower Hamlets council leader Michael Keith and other senior politicians, broke out about 30 minutes into the meeting.

As the council's deputy leader Abdus Shukur rose to speak, a group that had until then sat huddled, whispering to each other at the back of the main theatre room, leapt up and shouted: "Are you Muslim? Who are you to stand there?

"Allah is the one who legislates, not Man."

Several in the 100-plus audience squared up to them, shouting in a head-to-head face-off.

Members of the Bengali community angrily jabbed fingers their way, yelling: "Get out of this country if you want Shariah law - just leave us."

Police arrived some 15 minutes later, but the group tried to flee. As officers tried to calm them down, their anger turned towards the press. An Advertiser photographer who was taking pictures of the melee was warned by sect members: "We'll beat you up. We hate you people."

Back inside, Omar Faruk, the chairman of the chaotic meeting, said: "Sometimes I'm ashamed to be a Muslim. Please let us have a calm debate."

But his plea went unheard and politicians traded insults at each other. At one point Cllr Shukur actually screamed at people.

In one other angry exchange, Respect's Cllr Oliur Rahman strode down from the audience and challenged Cllr Keith to "step outside".

"It was for a debate," Cllr Rahman clarified later.
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