MILLBOURNE, Pa. — Three politicians in a small municipality near Philadelphia were indicted this week on charges they tried to fraudulently win the mayoral race in 2021 by producing about three dozen false mail-in ballots.

A federal grand jury accused Md Nurul Hasan, Md Munsur Ali and Mohammed Rafikul Islam of conspiring to register people who live outside 1,200-population Millbourne as borough residents, to have mail-in ballots sent to themselves and then to return the completed ballots to the Delaware County elections board.

Hasan was serving as vice president of the borough council and had lost the Democratic mayoral primary in the heavily Democratic area. Ali had won the Democratic primary for borough council but Islam lost the Democratic primary that year in seeking to be reelected to the council.

The alleged voter fraud involved Hasan’s ultimately failed pursuit of the mayorship as a write-in candidate in fall 2021. He lost the mayoral race in the general election, 165 to 138.

The grand jury accused Hasan and Ali of telling friends who lived outside Millbourne “that they would not get in trouble as long as they did not vote in another election in November 2021,” according to the indictment. Others were allegedly registered as Millbourne voters without their knowledge.

The men are accused of forging voter signatures on return envelopes. The charges against the men are conspiracy, false information in registering and fraudulent voter registration. Hasan and Ali did not have lawyers listed in the court docket. A message seeking comment was left for them at the borough office.

Islam’s lawyer, Robert C. Keller, said Friday the charges against his client involve only three of the allegations. “At best, or worst, he’d be liable for three of the issues,” Keller said. Islam has no prior record, is a married U.S. citizen with children and is employed, his lawyer said.