Bolton Greens face ‘data breach’ and ‘deselection’ election row

The row centres around the closely contested Halliwell ward, currently held by Labour, where Green Party candidate Baggy Khan, 25, is amongst the challengers.

Over the last week, two emails were sent out to Green Party members, the first claiming Mr Khan had been deselected as a candidate over a video where he appeared to film himself driving.

But just days later, a second email, signed by Green Party chair and Halliwell Councillor Hanif Alli, claimed that the first had been “unauthorised” and represented a “serious data breach”.

Cllr Alli said: “This information contained false and misleading information and constituted an unacceptable attack on our Halliwell candidate.

Bolton Green Party chair Cllr Hanif Alli (Image: Newsquest)

“Such conduct falls below the standards we expect and will not be tolerated.

“I apologise to all members for this breach and for the distress it has caused.

“A full investigation is underway, and decisive action will be taken against those responsible.”

He added: “Baggy Khan has my full support. He is a talented young man with a good moral compass who will make an excellent Green Party councillor for Halliwell.”

The email sent out by Cllr Hanif Alli (Image: Public)

Cllr Alli, who became chair of the Bolton Green Party in March, said he and the Bolton Green Party’s treasurer had asked their data officer to report the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The footage appeared to have been posted to Mr Khan’s public Instagram account, showing him sitting in a driver’s seat.

The camera flips to show the steering wheel as the car drives down the motorway.

It is unclear when the video was filmed, but other videos still on his Instagram appear to show him recording while driving in October 2022 and June 2023.

At the time, Mr Khan said the video was “very old” and that he would not be posting anything similar in the future.

But he faced calls at the time from Labour to withdraw as a candidate.

The first unsigned email addressed to Green Party members that went out last week claims that a committee meeting on April 8 this year had voted to deselect Mr Khan.

The email received by Green Party members in Bolton (Image: Public)

It said they took this decision after The Bolton News published an article about Mr Khan’s driving, and says further social media footage emerged of him “using guns”.

But the email said that since the deadline for nominations was at 4pm the very next day, April 9, this meant deselecting him was “not attainable”.

It said: “The committee continue to be in conversations about how we deal with this, and if we are in agreement, the remaining funds for the Halliwell ward’s campaign instead will be reallocated to other target wards.”

The video referred to in the email appeared to show Mr Khan filming himself driving (Image: Social media)

It added: “Furthermore, road safety is a key area the branch will be campaigning on due to the tragic loss of our branch secretary Vicki Attenborough in a road accident in December.”

In response, Mr Khan has said he believes his opponents within the Green Party have been trying to “demonise” him.

He said: “I am a young person entering politics for the first time as I feel my values align with the Green Party and especially their stance on Palestine.

“From day one, I feel that certain opposition parties felt threatened by my candidacy, as I grew up in Halliwell and know so many people, and the attacks against me began very quickly.

“However, more surprising to me was that a very small faction within our own local Green Party has also been very aggressive towards me, and I am still trying to figure out if that is to do with my being Asian, Muslim or something else?

“It has come to a head now as in my opinion, they have clearly broken data protection law in their unruly quest to demonise me.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the many great wider members of the Green Party who have reached out to support me through this whole episode, which has been invaluable to me.”

The national Green Party has been approached for comment.

Also standing in Halliwell are Philip Booth for Reform UK, Conservative Elizabeth Anne Elliott, Labour’s Safwaan Patel and Liberal Democrat Caroline Anne Turner-Preece.

The election will be held on Thursday, May 7.