An aide to a mayor accused of electoral fraud has denied that council grants were handed out unfairly.

Alibor Choudhury today told a special High Court hearing that Lutfur Rahman - independent mayor of Tower Hamlets, east London - had "reached out to everybody".

Four voters have taken legal action against Mr Rahman - leader of a party called Tower Hamlets First (THF) - at an Election Court trial in London.

They want Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey - who is sitting as a judge at the trial - to declare the result of the May 2014 mayoral election, which saw Mr Rahman elected for a second term, void and order a re-run.

Mr Rahman denies wrongdoing.

The group of four has suggested that Tower Hamlets Council grants unfairly went to areas in the "heartland" of Mr Rahman and his supporters.

But Mr Choudhury - Mr Rahman's election agent and a THF member of Tower Hamlets Council - disagreed.

"I strongly disagree with that," Mr Choudhury told Mr Mawrey. "There was a fair process. The grants underwent a process by which they were assessed."

Mr Choudhury said of Mr Rahman: "His focus was to reach out to everybody that lives in the borough."

The group of four has also raised questions about the setting up of THF prior to elections in Tower Hamlets in 2014.

But Mr Choudhury said rules had been adhered to.

"We set up the party with the intention of it being temporary," Mr Choudhury, the council's cabinet member for resources, told Mr Mawrey.

"We did the bare minimum required to enable us to campaign."

He added: "We have followed the law to the word so far."

Earlier in the trial, Mr Rahman had told the trial that his name had been ''used as leader'', but he said he had ''delegated the responsibility'' for the procedural formation of the party to Mr Choudhury.

Mr Rahman said the party had been created following a meeting at a private house.

He said someone at the meeting had taken notes ''on the back of a paper''.

And he said THF did not have a bank account.

Mr Rahman said there were ''records'' which Mr Choudhury kept at his home - which was also the registered address of THF.

He said he had ''full confidence in Councillor Choudhury''.

The four voters have mounted a challenge under the provisions the Representation Of The People Act.

Lawyers for the group have made a series of allegations, including ''personation'' in postal voting and at polling stations, and ballot paper tampering.

Mr Rahman says there is ''little, if any'' evidence of wrongdoing against him.

His lawyers have described the group of four's claims as invention, exaggeration and ''in some cases downright deliberately false allegations''.

The hearing continues.