LIKE all the officials in charge of running this year’s snap General Election, Kersten England has a hectic few weeks ahead.

She and her organisational team are busily trying to fit six months’ preparation work into six weeks - booking more than 200 polling stations, finding around 1,200 election staff and dusting off the black ballot boxes ready for action.

But unlike election bosses in other parts of the country, Ms England, the Council chief executive who also acts as the district’s Returning Officer, will have another worry - the stark fact that Bradford generates more complaints about electoral fraud and malpractice than anywhere else in England.

It’s something she says she is “not complacent” about, but she’s confident Bradford’s counter-fraud systems are robust, saying the district also has more checks in place than almost anywhere else.

“The bulk of complaints come from candidates and agents and we haven’t had one proven for some time,” she says, during an interview in her office in City Hall.

“First of all, whenever they could be criminal, they go straight across to the police to be looked at, but we actually haven’t had a proven case for seven to eight years. It might be longer than that.

“We are not complacent about that. That’s why our level of preparation is robust.”

Politicians across the political divide - from Conservative MPs Philip Davies and Kris Hopkins, to Labour MP Imran Hussain - have expressed their concern about the high number of complaints arising from Bradford.

But for some, the low level of prosecutions is more of a concern than a reassurance.

Former Bradford East MP David Ward says “crazy politics” rears its head every year, yet he claims the authorities seem unwilling to stamp it out.

“I think the police think we are probably all at it,” he says.

On the police’s part, they say all “substantiated matters” will be dealt with appropriately, and Ms England has also stressed the need for evidence when people make allegations.

Complaints about sharp practice in Bradford in recent years are hugely varied, running the gamut from playground-style jostling between parties on the campaign trail to postal vote fraud.

There have been claims of anonymous leaflets being dropped through letterboxes in the dead of night, making personal attacks on candidates.

There are often complaints of large groups of political activists gathering outside polling stations on election day, which Ms England acknowledged was “not helpful” behaviour.

“I have the power to move them on - and we do,” she says.

Very occasionally, there are allegations of violence.

But even if there are few if any convictions, the question remains - why does Bradford generate more complaints than anywhere else in England?

The Government’s corruption tsar Sir Eric Pickles - a former leader of Bradford Council, wrote a national report about the scourge of electoral fraud last year.

In it, he claimed that there was evidence that vulnerable members of Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities were urged to “vote according to the will of the elders” and that state institutions had “turned a blind eye to such behaviour because of ‘politically correct’ over-sensitivities about ethnicity and religion”.

It’s a controversial claim, but Cllr Ward says in his experience in Bradford East, it is the predominantly Asian areas of BD3 and BD5 where there has been trouble.

He says he has been branded racist for saying so, but says “it’s the opposite” - that he’s sticking up for the rights of people in these areas to fair elections.

Ms England has a different take on why elections in Bradford are, in her words, sometimes “challenging”.

“There’s an up-side to this, which is democracy really matters. Elections are really contested,” she says.

In the wake of Sir Eric’s report, Bradford was selected as one of a number of areas to trial tough new rules around elections, including a requirement for voters to show ID at polling stations.

But with the rush to organise the snap General Election, the Electoral Commission has put a pause on these plans.

In the meantime, the commission is offering its support to authorities in Bradford.

A spokesman says: “We know Bradford Council takes electoral fraud very seriously and that they work closely with partner agencies to put in place plans for tackling the risk of fraud. The Electoral Commission will monitor and provide support on these plans where necessary.”