A High Wycombe man who was cleared of election fraud has slammed the “witch hunt” against him and hinted at a possible return to politics.

Israr Rashid was found not guilty of conspiracy to defraud by a unanimous jury after he went on trial accused of cheating the Totteridge and Bowerdean by-election in February 2019.

Following a seven-day trial, the jury took around 30 minutes to acquit Mr Rashid. He was also found not guilty of two counts of personation after the prosecution declined to present any evidence.

Speaking to the Bucks Free Press, Mr Rashid described the emotional pain and turmoil he and his family have gone through over the past three years.

“It was a complete witch hunt,” he said.

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“I’m still processing it and I’ve been taken aback by the support that I’ve had. It has been massive.

“During the course of the three years my children were asked awkward questions at school, this was clearly damaging for them, so I’m really glad that this unanimous decision came in and silenced all the critics.”

On February 7, 2019, Israr Rashid achieved a landslide victory at the High Wycombe by-election, winning a seat on Bucks County Council. The former Labour candidate won the seat with 978 votes – his next closest rival achieved 668.

The victory was tainted – two days before polling day, police came to Mr Rashid’s house at 7am. When he answered the door in his dressing gown, he was arrested, and his house searched. At the exact same time, police conducted searches at his parents’ house and his place of work, Neales Taxis.

“The police raided my house very early in the morning when my children were just getting ready for school - it was distressing to say the least.” he said.

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“It was sad to see the extent to which the police were taking a simple complaint that didn’t have substance, and the impact it was having on my family, friends, neighbours and those who were supporting me.

“Me and my family have got a good standing in Wycombe, and we’re a big family in the town – the Asian community could really have been tarnished by this.”

Mr Rashid was present at the vote count two days later, but his victory celebrations were muted. He attended his first few meetings as a councillor but did not think the other members saw him in the same light.

He said: “When they read my name out at the count there was a pin drop silence, I didn’t even cheer. I knew I was going to win from day dot, but things just changed.

“I went into county hall, I attended meetings and eventually I gave in because I just felt as though people were looking at me, my co-councillors were looking at me like they didn’t think I should be there.

“The respect just wasn’t there.”

Just under three years later, having been subjected to endless gossip and rumour on social media, Mr Rashid was taken to trial at Amersham Law Courts. During the trial, the prosecution alleged that he and his campaign allies had “conspired” to cheat the election by “harvesting” postal votes, but the court did not hear from a single witness who claimed their vote had been taken.

Following the seven-day trial, the jury took just over 30 minutes to find Mr Rashid not guilty.

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Looking back at the proceedings, Mr Rashid wondered why his case got so far when there was so little evidence against him.

He said: “At times it felt to me as though there was some power behind the scenes pushing for this case to go to trial.

“We heard in the trial that 900 doors had been knocked. The police actually went door to door interrogating people, and nothing was found.

 “It clearly suggests that nothing had happened, otherwise the public would have spoken out, and the jury confirmed that with their unanimous decision.

“With all these things put together, it just felt to me that there was a power pushing, but I can’t put my finger on who or what was behind it.”

While Mr Rashid was cleared of conspiracy to defraud, during the trial the court heard how he was aware that some of his allies had potentially breached the council’s election code of conduct by posting other people’s sealed postal votes.

While this kind of behaviour is potentially unethical, it is not illegal, and did not constitute conspiracy to defraud.

Explaining how this happened, Mr Rashid said: “We need to understand that when you have people campaigning for you, they support you without having training, so I wish there was training available for these people.

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“To set the record straight, when people were picking up postal votes, they were their family’s votes.

“There could be six or seven people in a house, and that one individual in that house was making sure everybody’s vote got cast.”

Mr Rashid’s trial drew a lot of public interest in Wycombe, with even MP Steve Baker sharing the story on his social media.

With it being such a high-profile case, it brought with it a lot of unpleasant speculation and posturing on social media – something Mr Rashid struggled at times to deal with.

He said: “During the trial I switched myself off from all the comments and the media but that still didn’t stop people contacting me saying ‘I’ve just read this, what’s going on?’

“Sometimes it’s not possible and it’s hard because bad news sells. If I’ve got some good news no one wants to hear it, that’s just the way it works.

“I think some people wanted me to be guilty.”

Now that his name has been cleared, Mr Rashid is ready to move onto the next chapter of his life – and is considering a possible return to politics.

“I’m just a normal guy who doesn’t like injustice on anyone, especially the working class,” he said.

“If I was presented with the opportunity to represent the people of High Wycombe, I would relish the opportunity.

“My desire to achieve good things for High Wycombe would be at the forefront of my mind.”