East End voters will head to the polls today to elect a new mayor, weeks after Lutfur Rahman was dramatically stripped of power by a High Court judge.
Rahman, re-elected in May 2014 by a ballot now declared void, was found to have committed corrupt and illegal practices during the Tower Hamlets election.
Ten candidates, including the man who took the case to court, are standing in the hope of taking his place in the Town Hall.
Andy Erlam, standing on a "Red Flag - Anti-Corruption" ticket, is joined on the ballot paper by Labour's John Biggs, who narrowly lost to Rahman in the 2014 election.
Mr Biggs is the bookies' favourite, but also faces competition from Cllr Rabina Khan, the council's current housing and development chief.
She is standing as an independent, but was elected as part of Tower Hamlets First - the party formerly led by Rahman, who has been banned from seeking office for five years.
Detectives are already said to be looking into 16 allegations of electoral malpractice, including the use of "ghost" voters and improper distribution of election literature.
Mrs Khan, who has Rahman's backing, said she had reported Labour to the police for "treating and postal vote fraud". Treating refers to giving gifts in exchange for votes.
Ukip's Paul McQueen, Lib Dem Elaine Bagshaw, Green Party candidate John Foster, Vanessa Hudson for the Animal Welfare Party, and independents Md Motiur Rahman Nanu and Hafiz Abdul Kadir.
The Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey found at the end of April that Rahman oversaw corrupt and illegal practices when he was re-elected mayor.
There was also extensive corruption and illegality surrounding the election of Rahman's supporters at the council elections, Judge Mawrey said.
Additional reporting by Press Association
