A court has been told a man running for a seat on a local board in Auckland changed a large number of people's voting details to increase his chances of winning the election.
Daljit Singh is on trial at the High Court in Auckland on 20 charges of using a forged document.
Seven other men, whom the Crown alleges helped Mr Singh, are also on trial on the same charges, but fewer counts.
Mr Singh, a former Labour Party candidate, real-estate agent and justice of the peace, was running for the Otara-Papatoetoe local board in the 2010 election.
Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey told the court Mr Singh falsely changed a large number of people's addresses on the Electoral Enrolment Centre's website so they fell into the catchment of the Otara-Papatoetoe board. Most were Sikhs with the surname Singh.
Mr McCoubrey said the centre contacted police when it saw a large number of people being registered in one electorate and forms being downloaded from just a couple of computers.
The trial is set down for six weeks and 200 witnesses will be called to give evidence.
