Four registered electors have been sentenced to two months' jail by Kowloon City Magistracy for vote-rigging in the 2011 Yau Tsim Mong District Council Election, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said today.

Deputy Magistrate Ko Wai-hung said they committed vote-rigging offences of a serious nature, thus warranting deterrent jail sentences. He granted them $5,000 bail each, pending appeals against the sentences.

They submitted to the Registration & Electoral Office their applications for registration as electors at the District Council election on July 16 last year.

In their applications, they said a flat in Tung Choi Street was their only or principal residential address. But one of them had been residing in Shenzhen for 20 years, while others resided elsewhere in Kowloon.

On polling day on November 6 they voted in the election after having given to the electoral officer information they knew to be materially false or misleading.

So far, 51 people have been prosecuted in relation to the 2011 Yau Tsim Mong District Council Election (King's Park Constituency). Eighteen were each sentenced to two months' jail, with three having their jail terms suspended.

Of the remaining 29 defendants, the prosecution had offered no evidence against three, while the remaining 26 who denied their charges will be tried at Kowloon City Magistracy or Eastern Magistracy in separate cases between September 10 and November 5.