OUTGOING Tory councillor Khizar Iqbal has blamed his sensational loss on electoral fraud.

The Dewsbury South man lost his seat after a massive shift to Labours Abdul Patel.

Mr Iqbal held the seat in 2008 with more than double the votes of then Labour challenger Yunus Gajra.

But in Thursdays vote the tables were turned as he was comfortably beaten by 3,341 votes to 1,784.

Mr Iqbal, who ran as an independent in the 2010 general election, claimed the swing to Labour was down to postal vote tampering and said the police were investigating.

He said: Naturally Im disappointed with the result, but I think theres been a serious electoral fraud committed.

I have reported a number of incidents of postal vote fraud.

I intend to take that further. We live in a democratic country and I fundamentally believe the law should be respected and the integrity of our electoral system upheld.

Mr Iqbal said he had reported unusual levels of postal voting to the police after receiving an update on registration levels.

He said: Suddenly within 30 days prior to the close of registration for postal voting there was a surge where 300 to 400 votes were switched from a normal vote to a postal vote.

The postal fraud is for the police to deal with and even one act of that is criminal. Election fraud cannot be allowed were not a third world country.

Ive been a councillor for 14 years and I have pretty decent record of service and delivery for my community and I think on local issues I cant believe my opponent could have won on those issues and thats what elections are about.

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman, said: We have had a number of allegations made about postal voting fraud in the Dewsbury South Ward, some of which we are investigating, some of which we arent.