The first two complaints lodged against Brighton and Hove councillors in 2024 raise concerns about where they live.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s first Audit and Standards Committee agenda for the year has one complaint about an unnamed councillor’s place of residence during the May 2023 election campaign.
The second complaint alleges that an unnamed member has failed to act with integrity and honesty and/or lawfully by providing a false place of residence.
The anonymous member subject to the second complaint is also alleged not to have responded to emails about ward issues.
Although the complaints have been anonymised by the council, only two members are known to have faced allegations relating to where they live – former Labour councillors Bharti Gajjar and Chandni Mistry.
Councillor Gajjar was elected to represent the new Kemptown ward in the local elections and Councillor Mistry won a seat for Queen’s Park.
But Labour expelled the pair from the party last month over allegations that they live in Leicester.
Being expelled from a political party does not mean that a councillor must stand down from the council and both now sit as independents although neither attended the most recent meeting of the full council before Christmas.
Councillor Gajjar does have an address in Brighton – but has said that she lives in other parts of the country when applying to be a parliamentary candidate in constituencies elsewhere.
Councillor Mistry told the Argus that she lived “in the heart of the city” but would not say where or even agree to meet a reporter.
The Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, wrote directly to the Chief Constable of Sussex, Jo Shiner, last month with information that he said should be investigated.
Sussex Police has said that it was investigating claims about Councillor Mistry.
Any councillor who is convicted of lying on official election forms would have to stand down and could face up to a year in prison.
Mr Russell-Moyle released a statement at the time saying: “We found out a few months ago that something strange was going on.
“At that moment we alerted the regional and national party who had imposed these candidates without any local control.
“When party process discovered wrongdoing, I passed all my information on these councillors to the council and the police and I think there are questions for both to investigate.
“These councillors have let us all down.”
Emails sent to the two councillors on their Brighton and Hove City Council email addresses “bounced back” with a message citing “technical difficulties”.
The council’s Audit and Standards Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm on Tuesday 30 January. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
Like we needed more useless wanabee party backed “politicians” again and again. Sack them
Time these cuckoo Councillers were kicked out of the nest. Separate to the Fraud case, they do not fulfil the requirement to be a local resident serving their community, which is what a Councillor role is all about.
Why are both the Police and the Council dragging their heels over this? This dishonourable pair are doing nothing but reputational damage to Labour and the council.
Reputational damage ??? to politicians ?? They do that as soon as their lips move.
Yes, they do I agree, not many that are not in it to feather their own nest. Really sorry to know Caroline Lucas is leaving Politics. Caroline is the strongest voice of opposition in Parliament. Where as Starmer just says Aye to the opposition.
Have you tried emailing Councillor Gajjar recently? She’s put this as her automessage (typos intentional)
“This email address may be experiencing technical dificulties resulting in your email being bounced back or undelivered. Please use alternative contact methods as publised.”
That’s a deliberate lie, and not a very good one. She has broken the BHCC Councillor Code of Conduct with her actions here, along with several other actions that make her unsuitable for the privileged role.
We don’t tend to agree on much Barry, but on this occasion, I am in complete agreement with you.
This is a matter for the police to investigate and then the Crown Prosecution Service and then the Courts.
As explained in previous articles the Council does not have the power to expel a member or for the returning officer to investigate where a candidate lives.
The Labour Group expelled them from the group which is the limit of their power over the individuals.
Personally I think these two individuals should have resigned months ago but there is no way to force them out of office other than if they fail to attend a council or committee meeting for six months when their seats would automatically become vacant as per the law.
I also find this attempted deleted website a very interesting read on the councillor. The internet never forgets. https://web.archive.org/web/20231205205406/https://uknational.wixsite.com/bharti-gajjar-for-so
The grammar is not of Yale standard,
Yale?
Read the article, educational claims
This website is hilarious. Thanks for posting
Didn’t her auntie Councillor Gajja also claim to have a Yale University degree in Ethics, despite being sacked as a customer advisor from British Gas after 17 years due to alleged fraud?
Both as dodgy as a nine pound note if you ask me.
How the hell did they pass their Councillor candidate screening?
They didn’t pass normal local party screening. They were imposed by Starmer’s control freak administration to try and prevent genuine local socialist candidates from standing. This is a consequence of Labour authoritarianism and incompetence.
Would be good to find out, name and speak to whoever nominated these two to be B and Hove Lab council candidates.
.1) Did whoever nominated them know they were not local but (allegedly) from Leicester? In which case, why was this allowed, surely a breach of rules all round.
2)if if they did not know, why were proper checks of residency and eligibility not made before endorsing them.
Sorry, Benjamin, reply button still not working. On the website you referred to, which I have just looked at, might that be B&H councillor Gill Williams in the yellow hat? If yes, then what has she to do with Morecambe and wherever and are they actually standing beside the Pepper Pot rather than anywhere in Morecambe?
It’s an odd website, isn’t it? It suggests that Gajjar was aiming to campaign in several areas, with the same mantra for each.
I have a genuine connection with [INSERT TOWN HERE]
That link to a website is hilarious! ‘Fluent in six languages’ – a pity one of them is not English.
Gave carpet-baggers a bad name
Labour do not care, if this one fails they will just import others from around the country, or elsewhere
“The anonymous member subject to the second complaint is also alleged not to have responded to emails about ward issues”
Well that narrows it down! None of the Labour councillors respond to emails about anything and they have gained a reputation for ignoring the electorate