Wolverhampton council boss in election errors

Keith Ireland was the subject of a probe by the commission after it emerged a candidate's party had been omitted from ballot papers in the May elections.

Bhajan Devsi, who stood in the Blakenhall ward, had complained to Wolverhampton council after his status as an independent candidate was left off ballot papers.

Following a review the commission found that Mr Ireland had failed to meet two key performance criteria.

It noted that he had not ensured that voters receive the information they need 'in an accessible format and within time for them to cast their vote'.

Mr Ireland - who is the brains behind the authority's new 'confident, capable, council' mantra - was also said to have failed to ensure that 'candidates have confidence that the process is well managed, and have confidence in the results'.

The report concluded that 'although the error did not necessarily affect the outcome of the election, there may have been a direct impact on voters, as the omission may have caused voter confusion when they tried to locate the candidate they wished to vote for on the ballot paper'.

Mr Ireland is currently overseeing an investigation into erroneous electoral register letters that were sent out to 110,000 households and cost nearly £30,000 to put right.

In a letter to Mr Devsi he wrote that he 'must ultimately be held accountable for the error' and that he hoped his 'honesty' would assure candidates of his 'determination to avoid such issues in the future'.

Mr Devsi, aged 70, was a member of the Labour Party for 18 years and chaired the Blakenhall branch for four years. He stood down last year after becoming frustrated with ward councillors failing to attend branch meetings.

He said: "This mistake is not fair on candidates and not fair on voters. Governance must be seen to be working properly.

"When I initially complained about this the council tried to brush it aside. I reported the issue to officers on polling day but none of them reported it to the Civic Centre.

"I want justice. The only fair solution is to call a by-election so people are given the chance to see the parties represented by all candidates."

Mr Ireland said: "I had already committed to review our procedures to prevent something like this happening again, a process which is already underway.

"As part of that, I have extended an invitation to the Electoral Commission's representative in the West Midlands to be part of our review and to help us ensure our approach is as robust as possible going forward.

"Our work with the Electoral Commission, together with our existing efforts, will help me continue to transform the delivery of elections in the city of Wolverhampton, securing improvements for voters and candidates alike."