A Labour councillor alleged to have links with an Islamic fundamentalist group has been removed as the party’s candidate to become mayor of Tower Hamlets.

Labour’s National Executive Committee has suspended Lutfur Rahman and chosen another candidate to replace him.

Mr Rahman, who represents the borough’s Spitalfields and Banglatown ward, was nominated as Labour’s candidate earlier in the year despite opposition from local party members.

It has been alleged that he has connections to with the fundamentalist Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE), which operates out of the East London mosque.

A Channel 4 Dispatches investigation claimed that his links with the radical group had helped him become the Labour leader of Tower Hamlets council, a position he was ousted from in May 2010.

A Labour spokesman said the decision had been made because of "a number of serious allegations concerning both the eligibility of participating voters and the conduct of Mr Rahman.

“Administrative action has been taken to remove [him] as a candidate pending the investigation."

Tower Hamlets will vote for its first directly-elected mayor next month.

Helal Abbas Uddin, also a Spitalfields and Banglatown councillor, will run in Mr Rahman’s place.