An Independent Councillor claims he was given permission to remove a Green Party election sign from a Bradford property.
Police have told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they are currently investigating a report of criminal damage on Rossefield Road in the Heaton area on Monday.
The incident relates to a Green Party election poster being removed from the front of a property on the street, and CCTV footage showing the incident has been shared online.
The footage shows a man enter the property and remove the banner.
The Green Party on Friday 1 May put out a statement saying the man in the image was Councillor Ishtiaq Ahmed, who represents the Bradford Independent Group in Heaton.
The party says it has reported the incident to police and Bradford Council.
Cllr Ahmed told the LDRS that he did remove the sign but said he had done so with permission from the property owner, who he claims did not authorise a Green Party sign.
Referring to the CCTV footage, a statement from the Greens said: “The footage appears to show Councillor Ahmed entering private land without permission, forcibly removing lawful campaign materials, and discarding them elsewhere on residents’ property. He is also allegedly wearing his Bradford Council lanyard during the incident, raising serious concerns about potential breaches of the Councillor Code of Conduct and misuse of public office.
Councillor Matt Edwards, Leader of the Green Party Group, said: “Public trust in politicians is already far too low, and behaviour like this drags politics even further into the gutter.
“If these allegations are proven, this is a blatant attack on democratic values and on the rights of ordinary residents.”
A police spokesperson said: “We have taken a report of criminal damage on Rossefield Road on 27 April. Enquiries are ongoing.”
The LDRS has yet to receive a response from Bradford Council.
Cllr Ahmed told the LDRS: “It is important to set the record straight. This sign was installed without the property owner’s knowledge. We’d been given permission to install a banner there, and we were surprised to find a Green Party banner already there.
“The owner told us we could remove it.
“It is disappointing to see this incident twisted. I’ve got nothing to hide, we had permission to do that.
“I’ve been in the game long enough to understand things, and taking down political banners without consent from a property owner is not something I would do.”
ALL THE CANDIDATES RUNNING IN HEATON AND FRIZINGHALL
Sijyy Ahmad Sajjad (Lab), Ishtiaq Ahmed (Your Bradford Independent Group), Aleem Bashir (Your Bradford Independent Group), Shabana Bashir (Your Bradford Independent Group), Leslie Bennett (Reform UK), Megan Cowen (Cons), Kathleen Egan (Cons), Mohammed Hanif (Green), Humayun Islam (Lab), Fred Knowles (Reform UK), Khalid Mahmood (Green), Nussrat Mohammed (Lab), Glenn Nixon (Reform UK), John Passman (Cons), Nargus Rangzeb (Green), Adrian Todd (Lib Dem).
