HUNDREDS of voters throughout Bolton were on Saturday seeking answers to the question: "Where are my postal ballot papers?"

With only five days remaining to one of the most crucial elections in the history of Bolton Metropolitan Borough, residents are still waiting for their election forms to be delivered to their homes.

But, with council election chiefs confirming they have received more than 600 calls to their helpline from electors, the fear remained that they are not alone.

And, with Bolton Council election bosses revealing that all the ballot papers have been posted, and the Royal Mail confirming that everything sent to them has been delivered, voters were left wondering what has happened to their missing ballot papers.

Anxious council candidates fear the delays in voters receiving their ballot papers could result in a legal challenge to any closely-fought election.

Leading Tory John Walsh said today the blame must lie with central government for deciding to introduce a postal ballot just nine weeks before the election was due.

He said: "I've spoken to the Royal Mail and they have assured me that there are no more ballot papers to deliver,"

"The council, in my view, has done as good a job as they can and the buck must stop with the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, for introducing a postal vote at the 11th hour.

"Considering it was supposed to have made voting easier, it seems to have done nothing more than put an impediment in the way of democracy."

Labour councillor Frank White said: "The papers came to the council and they were checked and any mistakes rectified.

"It's the delivery from the post offices that seems to have been the problem and, in that instance, you would have to say that Royal Mail has been at fault."

Liberal Democrat leader Barbara Ronson said: "One paper not delivered is too much. It's alarming at this late stage because it looks like some of them have been lost in the post.

"It's difficult to see what the extent of the problem is and I hope it doesn't get to the point where people are challenging results, because that would be a nightmare scenario."

Anyone who had not received their papers by Wednesday night was advised to phone the council to ask for a new voting pack.

But hundreds who tried the hotline number found the phone lines jammed for much of Friday.

Malcolm Gibson, aged 50, of Church Avenue, Daubhill, said: "I was waiting for about half an hour to get through on the phone and just hope that I get the election pack delivered in the next couple of days.

"It's an appalling situation that you have to go through this rigmarole to vote. For older people, it might be too much for them to bother with."

Deputy returning officer Des Grogan said: "We're getting a number of people ringing in and we are issuing replacement ballot papers.

"We have issued around 600 ballots over the last two days and the calls are starting to slow down. We've sent out 191,000 ballot papers, so 600 is a minuscule number. We don't believe there are a huge number more out there.

"The sheer volume of votes going out will inevitably lead to a small number of problems, but it will be evaluated as part of the post-election process.

"We have taken on additional staff to man the helplines and we will be taking calls today if necessary."

Mr Grogan said anybody who received their original pack and a replacement pack by mistake should return one blank to the town hall. He said a bar code system would prevent anyone from voting twice.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We've delivered everything that we have had in terms of voting papers.

"There are no problems we are aware of in Bolton and we would advise anybody who has not received their papers to get in touch with their local authority."