Super City election - police called in after enrolment 'irregularities'

This house in Puhinui Rd has four dozen voters registered as living in it. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Police are investigating a possible attempt to influence the Super City election in which nearly 90 voters have been enrolled as living in two houses.

The Weekend Herald can reveal 48 voters are listed as living in one Papatoetoe home and 39 are enrolled as living in another property in the same South Auckland suburb.

Another 300 people in 30 homes in the Papatoetoe subdivision of the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board - part of the new Auckland Council's Manukau ward - are expected to come under scrutiny.

Nearly all the 87 people listed as living at the first two properties, in Pembroke St and Puhinui Rd, have Indian surnames.

Four of the nine people standing for four seats on the Otara-Papatoetoe board are Indian - Daljit Singh and Sukhdev Singh Hundal of the Labour Party and Avtar Hans and Narinder Kumar Singla of the Citizens and Ratepayers group.

Anyone enrolled in the ward can also vote in the Super City mayoralty contest, headed by Auckland City Mayor John Banks and Manukau City Mayor Len Brown.

An Electoral Enrolment Centre audit picked up the Papatoetoe anomaly and led to an internal inquiry.

A complaint was laid this week with police in Wellington.

A police spokeswoman said "possible electoral enrolment irregularities" were being investigated, but would not comment further.

Daljit Singh said Labour was not asking people to falsely enrol in the area to vote for him, and described rumours suggesting this was happening as part of a smear campaign.

He said several local Sikhs had told him C&R members had encouraged them to sign up in Papatoetoe, despite living elsewhere, and to mention Mr Singh's name to arouse suspicion.

"They know that I am a strong candidate. They are trying to put dirt on me. A few hundred votes will not make much of a difference. It's a dirty-tricks campaign."

At the 2007 Manukau council elections, 10,121 Papatoetoe people - 38.1 per cent of those eligible - voted.

Specific voting figures for the Papatoetoe Community Board election in 2007 were unavailable last night, but Bob Wichman and Gary Troup were elected to represent the ward on the city council with 3907 and 3322 votes respectively.

Under the Super City boundaries, the Papatoetoe subdivision of the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board has a population of 41,064.

Daljit Singh believed some families from outside Papatoetoe could have mistakenly listed themselves as living with relatives inside the board boundaries, because their English was poor.

Avtar Hans and Narinder Kumar Singla denied C&R was running a smear campaign against the Labour candidates.

"That is untrue," Mr Singla said. "This is a very bad situation and we want transparency and honesty."

Labour's Sukhdev Singh Hundal said he was aware of the situation, but did not know if anyone was trying to influence Indian voters.

All four candidates said they would speak to investigators if asked.

Of the 48 people listed at the Puhinui Rd address, 45 have Sikh surnames.

Owner Baljit Kaur said eight people lived at the home. She planned to vote for Daljit Singh and said her family and friends would probably also vote for him.

All of the 39 people listed at the Pembroke St address were Sikh. No one was home when the Weekend Herald visited.

Electoral Enrolment Centre national manager Murray Wicks said it was possible for a large number of people to be mistakenly listed at the same address if enrolment details were not updated.

"However, we believe there are some irregularities, particularly in the Papatoetoe area," he said.

"We have objected in writing to the individuals concerned, regarding their eligibility to be enrolled there.

"We've challenged the people involved and we'll see where that leads us."

If the voters could not prove they lived at the listed address, they would be removed from the electoral roll.

Asked if the irregularities seemed aimed at influencing the election of candidates to the Papatoetoe board, Mr Wicks said: "We don't know at this stage. We have informed the police and they are undertaking an investigation as well."

Auckland electoral officer Dale Ofsoske also received a complaint this week and referred it to the enrolment centre.

"I've never heard of anything like it in the 25 years I've been running elections," Mr Ofsoske said. "Certainly not nearly 40 or 50 people at one address.

"You might have extended family staying, but that would rarely exceed 10 or 12 people."