The political party of disgraced former Tower Hamlets mayor, Lutfur Rahman, has been banned by the Electoral Commission.
The move comes as Communities Secretary Eric Pickles takes further control of Tower Hamlets council in the wake of the sudden removal of Rahman from the top job, due to electoral fraud.
Bob Posner, of the Electoral Commission, said: "The Court’s consideration of the case made clear that the financial scheme the party was required to submit to the Commission when registering as political party had not subsequently been implemented. The Court's conclusions mean that the party’s registration is no longer valid and we have written to the party today confirming this."
Pickles announced he is giving the commissioners — who are now running the council — additional powers "to take any steps which the commissioners consider are needed for good governance and sound financial management".
Rahman and his supporters are holding a rally tonight at Water Lily hall in Whitechapel, where speakers will include Christine Shawcroft, Labour Party, Andrew Murray of Unite the Union, Lindsey German of Stop the War Coalition and Weyman Bennett from Unite Against Fascism.
The former mayor insists his innocence and has announced he will be appealing last week's decision which saw him thrown out of office, for vote-rigging, using local imams to influence voters, and falsely accusing his rival — Labour candidate John Biggs — of being a racist.
A 38 Degrees petition supporting Rahman has attracted over 6,000 signatures.
