Election threat to Galloway

George Galloway could face a challenge to his election victory in the East End over fears that hundreds of people may have voted twice.

The Evening Standard has learned that up to 300 duplicate names have been found on the electoral register for Bethnal Green and Bow.

Labour Party officials have compiled a dossier of the repeat entries and want to know if those identified cast their ballots more than once.

Respect MP Mr Galloway clinched the seat from Labour's Oona King after a bitter campaign that was marred by allegations of violence, abuse and intimidation of both main candidates.

Mr Galloway defeated Ms King by just 823 votes, but Labour's request for a re-count was rejected by Tower Hamlets returning officer Christine Gilbert. In his victory speech Mr Galloway claimed Ms Gilbert, the borough's chief executive, had presided over a "shambles of an election which would disgrace a banana republic". The council vigorously denied his claim.

Any voter or candidate within a seat can challenge an election result as long as they lodge a formal complaint within 21 days.

The so-called election petition is then adjudicated by an election commissioner - a High Court judge with wideranging powers. If the commissioner finds evidence of impropriety he can order a contest to be re-run.

The Labour Party has identified up to 300 examples of voters with rare names appearing more than once on the register. Often names appear at a neighbouring house or flat, suggesting that voters could have ended up with two polling cards.

A spokesman for Ms King said it was too early to say whether Labour would challenge the result if duplicate votes had been cast.

He said: "We need to get the marked register to find out who actually voted and

whether that fits with these entries."

Another challenge could stem from the discovery that a whole council block was left off the electoral roll.

Residents of Walnut House in Bow said they were appaled when they were turned away from polling stations. Gurnam Kaur, 33, said that as she had moved into the block in November 2003 she assumed she was on the electoral-register. "It's just not good enough, I've lost my right to vote," she said.

A spokesman for Tower Hamlets said that the council was looking into the allegations. Presiding officers from each of Bethnal Green and Bow's polling stations were filing reports. He said that in some instances the problems may have been caused by electoral registration forms not being filled in correctly, while in others it may have been down to clerical error.

"We won't know until we receive the reports from presiding officers and that work is being conducted," the spokesman said. He added that Tower Hamlets had apologised to several residents.

The Evening Standard exposed during the election campaign how easy it was to claim a postal vote in someone else's name. Another report revealed that several people on the electoral roll in Brick Lane did not live there.

A spokesman for Mr Galloway said that the Standard's discovery of duplicate names underlined Respect's claim that the electoral roll was full of errors. "This just confirms what George was saying on election night," he said.

Ms Kaur said that she was today lodging a formal complaint about the election.