Tower Hamlets London Borough Council

Lutfur Rahman has beaten Labour's John Biggs to become Tower Hamlets' mayor.

The Aspire candidate and former mayor was previously removed from the office and banned for five years having been found guilty of election fraud.

He was declared the victor after second preference votes were counted.

The first preference votes are in in the Tower Hamlets mayoral election and Luftur Rahman is currently leading.

The Aspire candidate who previously held the post but was removed from office has 39,533 votes while current mayor John Biggs is in second place with 27,894.

The threshold for a win is 42,063 which means it’s now gone on to second preference votes.

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There is a growing sense that Lutfur Rahman will take the Tower Hamlets mayoral election from Labour.

If he does it would be a remarkable turn around in one way given his previous five-year suspension from office, but not so puzzling really if his underlying support was only on hold too and didn’t disappear.

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The count for Tower Hamlets next mayor is taking place in the East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf in east London.

It is a huge and imposing 27m-high arched glass building with marble floors - mainly used for hosting events.

The count for the next Mayor of Tower Hamlets started around two hours ago.

Piles of ballots are suggesting two front runners at the moment.

Current mayor Labour’s John Biggs and Aspire’s Luftur Rahman - the former Mayor of Tower Hamlets.

There’s a long way to go - but it could end up being close.

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In Tower Hamlets residents have voted for both the council and the mayor of the borough - the mayoral count has just started.

In total, 86,009 ballots were received. That’s 41.92% of the eligible electorate casting their vote and it is slightly down on last time round.

Labour currently holds the majority of seats on the council and their mayoral candidate John Biggs is hoping to be re-elected.

He’s been mayor since 2015.

Mr Biggs' old political rival, Lutfur Rahman, is back standing for the Aspire party.

The former Mayor of Tower Hamlets was found guilty of electoral fraud in 2015 in an election court and given a five-year ban from holding office.

Mr Rahman has always denied any wrong doing.

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Tower Hamlets Council in east London has tweeted that the verification process has now been completed.

This means the counting process will start at 13:30 BST for the mayoral election.

Labour's John Biggs won the last election and is standing for re-election against another six candidates.

They are:

• John Biggs - Labour and Co-operative Party
• Pamela Anne Holmes - Independent
• Rabina Khan - Independent
• Hugo Pierre - Lib Dems
• Lutfur Rahman - Trade unionist and socialist coalition
• Elliott Weaver - Aspire
• Andrew Wood - Conservative and Unionist Party