Sikh leader case in New Zealand remains unsolved

Jurors remain deadlocked in the case of a Sikh leader in New Zealand who has been charged with having forged election documents in a bid to win a local body poll three years ago.

Daljit Singh, a former Labour Party candidate, who was running for the Otara-Papatoetoe local board in Auckland Council in 2010, was charged in the high court in Auckland with a total of 38 counts of using forged document, Radio New Zealand reported Friday.

Seven other men, who helped Daljit Singh, are also on trial for the same charges, but on fewer counts.

Daljit Singh, a real estate agent and senior member of the Supreme Sikh Council, has pleaded not guilty.

The court heard that Daljit Singh falsely changed a large number of people's addresses on the Electoral Enrollment Centre's website so that they came under his constituency, the Otara-Papatoetoe board.

According to the report, most of the people's addresses Daljit Singh changed were Sikhs with the surname Singh.

The prosecutor also told the court that the centre had contacted police when they found anomalies in the addresses "of people being registered in one electorate and that forms were being downloaded from just a couple of computers".