A former Labour councillor regarded as the most powerful man in Birmingham Asian politics, who was at the centre of a vote-rigging scandal which a High Court judge said "would disgrace a banana republic", plans a political comeback. Mr Afzal was one of six Labour councillors accused of widespread corruption at the 2004 local elections. At midnight two days before the election, the police stumbled on what appeared to be a vote-forging factory in Witton where six men were found with 274 unsealed postal votes for Aston ward.An election court banned all six from standing as candidates again and ordered by-elections to be held in Aston and Bordesley Green. Mr Afzal, a Birmingham councillor for 23 years, successfully appealed against his conviction by insisting he was not one of the six Labour activists caught red-handed with hundreds of completed postal ballots. Labour members in Aston have now selected Mr Afzal for the 2007 election, from an extensive shortlist of one. The selection was welcomed by Sir Albert Bore, leader of the Labour Group, who said: "He will make a very good candidate."
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A word about evidence. Most of what people think is material evidence of a criminal offence is in fact either hearsay evidence (asserted, but without any proof) or circumstantial evidence (suggests guilt but does not prove it). For an introduction to the subject of evidence, try: