Defeated Tory candidate considering legal action over postal vote ‘delays’

A Tory candidate who was defeated by just 15 votes is considering taking legal action over alleged postal vote chaos in his constituency.

Ameet Jogia, who was defeated by his Labour rival in the north London constituency of Hendon, may launch a judicial review against Barnet Council.

Mr Jogia, a former Downing Street adviser, has accused the council of being responsible for failures over postal votes that “lost me the vote”.

Thousands of people across the country were denied their chance to vote in Thursday’s election, with as many as 120 constituencies affected by delayed and missing ballots.

Election officials have argued that campaigns should be made five days longer in order to give councils more time to register voters and avoid similar chaos at future elections.

Mr Jogia told The Telegraph that he personally knows of around a dozen constituents who told him they would have voted for him but their postal votes never arrived.

“There were so many others too,” he said. “In my case this would have made a difference. We were robbed”.

Slimmest majority in the country

With a margin of just 15 votes between Mr Jogia and the Labour candidate David Pinto-Duschinsky, Hendon was won with the slimmest majority in the country.

“Barnet council has had a repeated issue with postal votes going missing or not arriving. We had it in the mayoral election when whole streets did not receive them,” Mr Jogia said.

Mr Jogia wrote to Barnet Council’s electoral officer on May 9 to ask for “clarity” after a “large number” of residents did not receive their postal votes despite registering for one in “ample time”.

In the letter he wrote: “This is extremely frustrating as these residents were effectively disenfranchised through no fault of their own and were unable to participate in the democratic process to which they are entitled.

“I would like to understand why this has happened and if there is an explanation for this.”

Mr Jogia went on to warn the council that it was “critical” that this didnot happen again and that the issue be “rectified before the upcoming general election”.

He concluded: “I hope that you will be able to provide some clarity on this matter, I cannot express how disappointed I was that this happened, especially as there was effectively no solution on the day”.

He said that after sending this letter to the council, he did not receive a reply.

Difficulty with locations

“People were calling them to say ‘where is my postal vote?’ and they said the only answer was to come to a council office by 5pm to pick up a ballot paper.

“This was a satellite office by Colindale with no parking provision. The Tube station next door is also closed – making it a very difficult location to get to.”

Mr Jogia said that the council should have made more of an effort to get ballot papers out to people whose postal votes did not turn up. He believes they should have made alternative arrangements.

He is now taking legal advice about launching a possible judicial review against Barnet council.

“I know it is a long shot. A judicial review is quite serious and it will only go through if we have a strong case,” he said. “The authorities should have made sure the ballot papers were issued on time and then if not, they should have made sure there were sufficient provisions in place for people to vote.”

Analysis by The Telegraph has found that of the 129 marginal constituencies with a majority of less than 5 per cent being contested in the general election, 34 have experienced issues with postal votes, including delays and ballots not turning up.

Problems have been reported all over the country and have been particularly acute in Scotland, where as many as 25 per cent of voters applied for a postal ballot because the election clashed with the start of school summer holidays.

The Electoral Commission has confirmed that postal voting problems will form part of its post-election research.

Royal Mail denied that there is any backlog of postal votes in its sorting centres and said it would welcome a review into the timetable for future elections.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “While we are not complacent, we remain confident that postal votes handed to us on time will be delivered prior to polling day.”

A Barnet Council spokesman said: “We are confident all aspects of the election were run in accordance with electoral legislation and the high standards set by the Electoral Commission.”