Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Accused election candidate should have withdrawn - opponent

Updated at 7:29 am on 9 October 2010

An opponent of a super city candidate accused of forging local body election papers in South Auckland says he should have withdrawn from the race.

Labour candidate Daljit Singh is one of two men charged with forging change of address forms to falsely enrol voters in Papatoetoe.

He was charged on Tuesday but his name was suppressed until Friday afternoon.

Ray Strong from Citizens & Ratepayers, who is also seeking a seat on the Otara-Papatoetoe board, says that although Mr Singh is innocent until proven guilty, voters had a right to know who stood accused before they made their selections.

The names of more than 300 people have been removed from the electoral roll after it was discovered they did not live at the houses stated.

Mr Singh denies any wrongdoing and and believes the investigation may have cost him more than 1000 votes.

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