More than 15 per cent of Bradford voters are to cast their vote by post in next month's local elections.

Yesterday saw a last-minute rush of hundreds of people anxious not to miss the 5pm deadline for applications.

Bradford Council's election unit will have to send out nearly 52,000 postal ballot packs next week.

The figure is more than a thousand more than the number of postal voters for last year's General Election.

Head of democratic services Salman Mather said: "The figure is about what we expected and there has been a last-minute rush with about 800 new applications on the final day.

"We have also accepted faxed applications," he said. "Although we always write to the person involved to confirm it."

The unit has brought in a raft of measures, including electronic scanning of ballots and identification papers, in a bid to stamp out electoral fraud.

Mr Mather said they had also moved the deadline forward to allow more time for security and identification checks. The election team is to check signatures against those the Council already holds, such as those on council tax records.

The moves follow a record 252 postal votes and applications being investigated by West Yorkshire police since May 2005.

The figure was the highest in Britain. Bradford Tory Councillor Reis Khan and a 31-year-old man were arrested in September by police investigating allegations of vote-rigging and released on bail.

West Yorkshire police today confirmed 12 people arrested in connection with the vote-rigging inquiry have been reported for summons. The Crown Prosecution Service will consider the files before any decision is made whether to proceed.

Another Conservative Councillor, Jamshed Khan, was arrested the day before the election over alleged voter fraud. The inquiry was closed without charge.

The Electoral Administration Bill is also due to create a new criminal offence of falsely applying for a postal vote, among other measures.

A team of staff in Bradford will begin opening the postal ballots to conduct security checks two days before the election on May 4.

The actual count will take place the following day.

Voters still have until next Tuesday to apply for a vote by proxy, except in medical emergencies.

Non-postal voters have been advised to check their new-style polling cards as they could be casting their vote at a different station this year.

The cards include a map of the relevant polling station for the first time - to cut down on confusion after the shake-up.