The trial into a Conservative party candidate accused of electoral fraud in 2022 has opened at Preston Crown Court.

Mohammed Navid Afzal, 41, stood for the Tories in the Netherton ward in the poll for Hyndburn Borough Council two years ago.

In May of that year, he was arrested after allegations were made about his conduct, where it was claimed signatures on his nomination papers for the May 5 poll were invalid.

In September 2022, Lancashire Police confirmed Afzal, of Whalley Road, Accrington, had been charged with two counts of corrupt practice.

Afzal pleaded not guilty to the two charges at Burnley Crown Court in October 2022, resulting in the trial, which opened at Preston Crown Court on Monday.

Shirlie Duckworth, prosecuting, said a nomination paper submitted by Afzal contained the names of two people as electors who assented to the nomination of Afzal as a candidate for the Conservative party for Hyndburn in the local elections.

However, it is the prosecution's case that these people did not actually assent to the nomination.

Each nomination form needs to be signed by 10 electors, and once forms are submitted they cannot be withdrawn.

The two people on Afzal’s nomination form who say they should not have been are Noreen Hussain and Asad Mirdad.

Ms Hussain, giving evidence to the court via an interpreter, said she did not know Afzal, did not know anything about the 2022 elections, and did not have an interest in politics then or now.

She was shown a copy of a nomination paper by the court which showed a signature of ‘N. Hussain’ and the name Noreen written close by.

She said it was a similar signature to her own, but did not remember signing this form, nor was she asked to help with Afzal’s nomination.

Ms Hussain also said she could not read English and could not read or understand any of the words on the form.

Giving evidence, Mr Mirdad said he did know Afzal and had known him since their college days, but did not stay in touch after this.

He said they had not seen each other for around 20 years before they bumped into each other at the mosque in Great Harwood.

Mr Mirdad said he is not involved in politics but was a trustee at the mosque and did a lot of community work.

He said he was asked by Afzal to help with his campaign by going door-to-door but he refused as he had applied to join the police at the time.

He did say he showed Afzal a list of mosque attendees he could approach to ask about supporting the campaign but did not go further than this.

Also giving evidence in court was Noordad Aziz, a Labour councillor for the Netherton ward where Afzal was running.

He sent a message to Mr Mirdad upon finding out he was one of the names on Afzal’s nomination form.

Mr Aziz said he and Mr Mirdad knew each other as they lived on the same street, and though he did not take it personally at the time that Mr Mirdad had seemingly endorsed a Conservative candidate, he did consider him ‘one of his own’.

Mr Aziz said he sent Mr Mirdad a message on WhatsApp saying: ‘You’re causing me grief you know,’ regarding the nomination form, and that he meant it in a jovial manner.

However, when Mr Mirdad responded by saying he did not know what it was, and said ‘why is my name on there when I didn’t agree to anything?’, he knew something was wrong.

The court heard Afzal passed this off as an error and said it would be fixed.

Afzal denies all offences against him.

The trial continues.