VOTE rigging is wrong whoever commits it because it shows that the perpetrators believe that the end justifies the means. It never does.

Our Election Petition in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets showed that vote rigging had gone on for years on an industrial-scale. All political parties have engaged in electoral fraud and it's a lot more common nationally than assumed. In Tower Hamlets everyone looked the other way.

Labour seeking to personalise the row in Bolton does no good. If nothing is wrong what had Labour to fear if all the parties agree to call in the police, the Electoral Commission and formerly complain to the Regional Returning Officer.

Vote rigging does not help ethnic minorities either — reinforcing the idea that men and elders always know best. The days when one could arrogantly talk about "the Asian vote" are fast fading. This is a good thing.

A full investigation in Bolton is now needed. The rules must be tightened up.

Yours sincerely,

Angela Moffat

Andy Erlam

Tower Hamlets Election Petitioners

Joshua Pedley Mews

London