Conservatives accuse UKIP candidate of falsifying official paperwork

Alan Wells, chairman of the Isle of Wight Conservative Association has written to UKIP candidate Richard Wilkins, questioning the origins of one of the signatures on the nomination papers that he submitted when applying to run as a candidate in the 2013 Isle of Wight local elections.

If proven to be true in court, it’s a serious offence that could lead to a prison sentence.

Nominee
In the letter, which OnTheWight has seen a copy of, Alan says that he inspected the Notice of Poll issued by County Hall last Friday and pinpoints one of the eight listed nominees, saying that she didn’t sign the official papers.

Further, Alan says that the listed nominee visited County Hall yesterday to look at the paperwork and confirmed “that the signature and handwriting purporting to be hers is false, and that it was not written by her.”

Warning of Police
The letter, which was to be hand-delivered to the UKIP candidate, Richard Wilkins, warns that they intend to report the incident to the Police on Wednesday, giving him until 5pm today to give a written explanation as to how the situation has come about.

OnTheWight has attempted to contact both the Island UKIP Chairman and Secretary, but at the time of publishing hasn’t heard back.

UPDATE 6:10pm – A short while after, UKIP leader, Nigel Farage issued a response.

Advertisement
Subscribe
Email updates?
16 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Bystander
16, April 2013 11:24 am

I would have thought any such allegations should be raised officially with the returning officer, anything else looks like a smear campaign.

Bystander
Reply to  Bystander
16, April 2013 12:15 pm

and when it comes from someone previously rejected by the electorate it also looks suspiciously like sour grapes.

nonpolitical
16, April 2013 11:46 am

Taking this with the accusation the other day by the Tories about the Independents using a photo it does make you wonder what’s going on. Is this going to be a dirty campaign? I hope not.

Robert Jones
16, April 2013 12:57 pm

It is a potentially extremely serious offence, and for that reason the Returning Officer should be informed and should investigate urgently. But what I would not have done when I was an Election Agent was to pre-empt that process in any way, eg by publicizing the fact that an accusation had been made. IF it’s true, both the candidate concerned and his Agent will find out all… Read more »

Darcy
16, April 2013 1:09 pm

Rather than spending his time attempting to find fault with the minutiae of opponent’s admin, or election communications, wouldn’t Mr Wells’ ample time be better occupied engaging in grown-up debate about the issues that affect all of us?
Watch out Labour and Lib-Dem candidates. You’re next!

no.5
Reply to  Darcy
16, April 2013 4:01 pm

They are welcome to try

The Coal Man
16, April 2013 1:41 pm

‘… and it may backfire badly’

Well, Well then I would suggest that Alan stops looking at the mantle-piece when he’s poking the fire in future!
Silly Man.

Victor Meldrew
16, April 2013 1:55 pm

Perhaps the grate (sic) Alan Wells should’nt be in such a hurry to involve the police in an election issue, it could well blow up in his face and leave his mini-me dangerously exposed. Gerrymandering is a much more serious electoral offence and the he would be best off calling his own troops to order. Not only gerrymandering but failing to declare an interest does not go… Read more »

steve s
16, April 2013 3:23 pm

I’m accusing the Island Conservatives of having spent the last eight years running the Isle of Wight into the ground. Who do I report THAT to?

matt.h
Reply to  steve s
16, April 2013 3:45 pm

Hi Steve,

The island will be all right, if the Tories get back, they’ll outsource the lot to Hampshire. That’ll save the necessity of employing anyone other than Directors of Service of course, who’ll be needed to oversee thing.

Oh happy days :-(

Cynic
16, April 2013 4:54 pm

Mmmm! 131 candidates x 10 nominators each x minimum of 4 pieces of data to verify = 5240 checks to be made against the electoral register that the nominator is qualified and against who-knows-where that the signature is valid.

Who would have the time, inclination and access to the relevant information to carry out such checks? And why?

no.5
Reply to  Cynic
16, April 2013 5:10 pm

well the proposer, seconder and nominators data is already computerised so generating a letter to the address listed should not take to long….if someone could be bothered

Cynic
16, April 2013 6:11 pm

OK. Let’s forget the provisions of the Data Protection Acts for Electoral registers for the moment and just “follow the money”.

5240 letters at 50p each = £2620 of election expenses to be accounted for.

Which candidates could afford those additional expenses out of their £600 + 5p per local government elector (average ward = 2500 x 5p = £125:) total £625)?

Robert Jones
16, April 2013 6:25 pm

Nomination papers are checked against the electoral register when handed in, to ensure the name of the nominator, seconder and assentors match the electoral number – and basically that they’re actually ON the register in the first place. The Agent him or herself will have checked the paper before submitting it. What is not obvious, of course, is whether a signature has been forged or not –… Read more »

tryme
16, April 2013 6:36 pm

As Darcy indicates, this is probably the start of Tory smear campaigning – just in time to affect voting, but too late to put the record straight until after election day.

Postal Voter
Reply to  tryme
29, April 2013 4:03 pm

Please can anybody confirm if any family members using a postal vote this week have also been sent any candidate’s election leaflets as well from the council? I was chatting with one of my daughters over the weekend, whilst they are at University and they happened to mention in passing that the letter from the council with their postal vote, reply letter/card, etc. also contained one of… Read more »

reCaptcha Error: grecaptcha is not defined