A judge will decide today whether to name 27 Birmingham Labour Party members alleged to have been involved in the postal votes fraud.
If the cases are proved, the men, all from Bordesley Green, could be banned from standing in future city council elections and even prevented from canvassing or working on behalf of a political party.
Richard Mawrey QC, a deputy high court judge hearing evidence contained in two election petitions alleging widespread ballot rigging in Bordesley Green and Aston, is being asked to invoke regulations contained in the Representation of the People Act.
A similar application to name Labour Party members in Aston is expected to be submitted next week.
If Mr Mawrey orders a rerun of last year's council elections in Aston and Bordesley Green, the 27 Labour members and six Labour councillors would be unable to play any role in the fresh elections.
All of them could be liable to pay the petitioners' costs, should fresh elections be ordered.
The six councillors - Muhammad Afzal, Mohammed Kazi and Mohammed Islam in Aston, and Shafaq Ahmed, Shah Jahan and Ayaz Khan in Bordesley Green - deny any wrongdoing.
Mr Mawrey is expected to invite all of the named men to attend "mini-trials" where they will be given an opportunity to refute the allegations against them.
Graham Brodie, representing the Bordesley Green petitioners, told the court that the 27 names had been distilled from a larger list of 53.
They represented the people against whom the most serious charges of fraud could be proved. Alleged offences include falsely witnessing declarations of identity and postal ballot applications, forging signatures and giving false addresses.
The court heard allegations last week that the three Bordesley Green Labour councillors helped organise up to 3,000 fraudulent postal votes, enabling each of them to be elected rather than People's Justice Party candidates.
Mr Brodie said: "I invite the court to name these people as being involved in corrupt and illegal practices." They were the "agents of corruption", he added.
Yesterday's resumed hearing into the Aston election petition saw the judge question comments made by Sir Albert Bore, the former Labour leader of Birmingham City Council, in The Birmingham Post after last year's elections.
Sir Albert, giving his views on rules governing postal voting, said at the time: "As a candidate I am allowed to apply for a postal vote on your behalf, collect the forms, have it delivered to my address, fill it in for you, put it together and deliver it to the elections office.
"There is nothing illegal about that. But it looks and feels wrong. That is why the system needs to be looked at."
Mr Mawrey said Sir Albert's statement was open to interpretation.
"It may be argued that it is not an accurate statement of the law. Certainly the first part of the statement is not, in fact, right.
"If wittingly, or unwittingly, the leader of the council sets people on a course which may be unlawful then the consequences may be considerable."
The court heard evidence from Liberal Democrat John Hemming, deputy leader of Birmingham City Council, who said he had submitted a list of 51 separate fraud allegations to the police. But no prosecutions were brought by fraud squad officers.
Coun Hemming (South Yardley) said he did not understand how a successful criminal prosecution for electoral fraud could be brought against a councillor in Blackburn, but nothing could be done in Birmingham.
More than 400 postal votes in his own South Yardley ward were "stolen" through various means, many of them being removed by gangs of boys after postal workers failed to push documents through letter boxes, it was claimed. The case continues.
