A man has been fined after he openly bragged on social media he had voted twice in a razor-thin marginal at this year’s General Election.

Mohammad Zain Qureshi, of Harold Road, Chingford, pleaded guilty to electoral offences at Thames Magistrates Court on Monday (December 18).

The court heard how Qureshi was able to vote twice in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency on June 8 this year.

The 21-year-old has been registered twice at his home address, with a minor variance in his name.

Following the election, Qureshi was reported to police after he made a post openly declaring he had voted twice for the Labour Party – once by postal vote and a second time in person at a polling station.

Qureshi was later identified by police, interviewed in connection with the offence on August 22 and later charged.

He was fined £150 and ordered to pay £200 towards prosecution costs, as well as a £30 victim surcharge.

Qureshi was also banned from voting in any parliamentary or local government election, or from holding any elected office, for three years.

DI Gail Granville of the Met’s special enquiry team, said: "This result demonstrates the Met’s commitment to ensuring free and fair elections for all of our communities.

“In this year’s election the team received over 70 allegations of electoral malpractice across many of the London boroughs.

“The majority of those do not constitute an offence; however in this case a thorough investigation has led to today’s successful conviction.”

The marginal Chingford and Woodford Green constituency was eventually retained by Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith after he saw off a challenge from Labour candidate Bilal Mahmood.

Mr Duncan Smith saw his majority cut during the election to just 2,438, down from 8,386 at the 2015 General Election.