Downfall of Lutfur Rahman: Tower Hamlets Council rips up Town Hall pass of corrupt mayor

Indignity has been heaped upon humiliation for disgraced politician Lutfur Rahman, after Tower Hamlets council tore up his Town Hall pass.

Former Mayor Rahman – Britain's first Muslim directly elected mayor – has been blocked from entering the building from which he wielded power, courted controversy and engaged in electoral fraud.

A Town Hall source told IBTimes UK: "He is not in the building and is now treated as a member of the public."

The step by the council came after Rahman was found guilty of electoral fraud during the 2014 local election – which he won with a slashed majority.

Described as "ruthlessly ambitious" by election commissioner Justice Richard Mawrey, Rahman's election victory was declared void, proverbially tearing his chain of office from around his shoulders.

The council has already set about planning a re-run of the election – from which Rahman has been banned from standing as a candidate.

As if this was not enough, Tower Hamlet's former first citizen must also come to terms with another sign of his downfall; being no longer welcome in the Town Hall which was the prize of his own corrupt election practices.

Former Labour Party member Rahman – who ruled Tower Hamlets as an independent – and a group of his agents were found guilty of false statements, bribery and corruption at the Royal Courts of Justice. He denied the allegations, brought in a suit by four voters in the deprived inner London borough.

In the aftermath of the verdict, a spokesman for Rahman called the result "a shock" and said the ex-mayor was considering an appeal.