A Birmingham Labour Party activist, accused of hijacking a ballot box on the night before the General Election, claims to be the victim of a Liberal Democrat " dirty- tricks" offensive.
Walyat Hussain vehemently denies keeping the ballot box and blank-ballot papers at his home in Aston.
He admitted picking up the empty ballot box from the Ladywood Leisure Centre on May 4, accompanied by his daughter Shamim Akhtar, the presiding officer at the Broadway School polling station.
But Mr Hussain said he took the ballot box to his daughter's house in Ettington Road, Aston. Mr Hussain lives a few doors away in Ettington Road.
On the morning of the General Election, Mr Hussain helped his daughter take the ballot box to Broadway School.
"It was definitely empty when we took it into the school," he said.
At the close of polling on May 5 Mr Hussain, a Labour Party member for 30 years, delivered the full ballot box to the count at the National Indoor Arena. He was accompanied by his daughter.
Government guidance is that only presiding officers should handle ballot boxes, but Mr Hussain said there was legal precedence for fathers and husbands to help out.
He believes he is on the receiving end of a vendetta by Liberal Democrats in Aston who were formerly Labour Party members.
He said: "I have been set up. Allegations have been made against me and my daughter and they are totally untrue."
Birmingham City Council says it is investigating complaints against Mr Hussain.
However, Mr Hussain said yesterday that the council had not yet been in touch.
