Stewart McArdle, a former MBI councillor for Morley North, is preparing to submit an election petition to the High Court questioning Coun Robert Finnigan's (MBI, Morley North) eligibility to stand at the last election.

Coun Finnigan, a member of the council's executive board, successfully defended his seat in the May elections, winning by over 2,000 votes.

But Mr McArdle claims that Coun Finnigan meets none of the criteria that candidates in local elections must comply with.

Candidates must either be a local elector within the area they wish to represent, have worked in the area for the last 12 months or lived or owned land or property in the area for the last 12 months.

Mr Mr McArdle said that since Coun Finnigan moved out of the Drighlington address he had when he was elected in 2004 and until recently was employed as a local government officer in Kirklees, so meets none of the criteria.

As a result he is prepared to put up the £400 and £2,500 bond to send an election petition to the High Court and has also made a complaint to the West Yorkshire Police, a spokesman for which said they were investigating the claims.

Coun Finnigan said: "It is regrettable that Stewart McArdle, who we defeated in the local elections last year and who was rejected again by the electorate this year in Ardsley and Robin Hood, feels the need to challenge the outcome of this election.

"There is no substance whatsoever to any of his allegations."

"I am happy to co-operate fully with the police on these allegations. Similar complaints have been made following previous results and those complaints have all been fully rejected on the basis there was no substance to them."

Mr McArdle, who stressed he was not alone in his concerns regarding Mr Finnigan's eligibility, said: "I am confident of two things – one that Mr Finnigan's first line of defence is always to attack and any comment from him will reflect this, two that knowing what I know about the specifics of the case regarding the involvement of Mr Finnigan and others, most of the salient details will be sub-judice.

"I will refrain from making any further comment other than that this matter will be resolved by the police, the courts and the due processes of the law."

His election petition must be signed by four or more people eligible to vote in the ward and must be submitted directly to the High Court within 21 days of the return of the election. The High Court has the power to set up an election court with the power to declare the election invalid, leading to a vacancy and a by-election.