A BURNLEY councillor jailed for election fraud has won the right to appeal against his conviction.

Manzur Hussain's case will now go before the Court of Appeal in London within the next two months to determine the outcome of the appeal.

Hussain, 58, of Milner Street, Burnley, a councillor for Daneshouse with Stoneyholme, applied for leave to appeal after he was found guilty of vote rigging in the 2004 elections.

He and fellow councillor Mozaquir Ali were each jailed for 18 months after a jury convicted them of conspiracy to defraud the returning officer of Burnley Borough Council.

Ali, 44, of Brougham Street, has not applied for leave to appeal and has been sacked from the council.

Barrister Afzal Anwar, part of Hussain's defence team during the trial, from David Phillipson, Nelson, said: "We have received notification that a judge has granted leave to appeal and that will now be heard within the next six to eight weeks at the Court of Appeal."

Hussain was elected as a councillor in May 2002 and his term in office will end in May.

At the trial the judge said that the pair had exploited "unsophisticated, uneducated and in some cases confused" people in getting voters to sign blank proxy voting forms.