Furious Tories have demanded "transparency" from council chiefs over the "farcical" situation which led to them to scrap an anticipated Paisley by-election.
Renfrewshire's Conservatives say that taxpayers "deserve to know" what went wrong after council bosses called a by-election for blacklisted Paul Mack's Paisley Southeast seat before being forced to desert it.
We told last Friday how Renfrewshire Council called the December 14 poll to replace controversial ex-councillor Mack - struck off by the courts after running a hate campaign against two political rivals.
But they announced it would have to be ditched after candidates had already begun their campaigns - and some postal voters had even returned their ballots.
They were spurred into action after failing to realise Mack had lodged an appeal against his ban from being an elected member with Scotland's highest civil court.
Now Tory candidate Alec Leishman has expressed his dismay at the lack of action, backed by leading political figures in the group.
Mr Leishman said: "I am bitterly disappointed that my campaigning had to be abruptly halted. I was enjoying getting out and about and listening to voters concerns across the ward.
"Postal ballots had already been sent out and voters were firmly weighing up who to vote for on December 14th. It is inexcusable that this by-election will now not be taking place."
The political hopeful added: "It is clear that this was a fault entirely of the council’s own making and one that has hit the public purse dearly. I urge them to set the record straight immediately over this total debacle."
Long-standing controversial councillor Mack had represented Paisley voters for two decades before he was banned by the Standards Commission for running a "relentless" hate campaign against Labour councillor Eddie Devine and Tory Alistair Mackay.
But the Renfrewshire Council bungle meant that returning officer Ken Graham was forced to apologise to candidates after it emerged there will be no by-election in the ward now, or later.
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Vacant council seats are required to be filled within a three month period.
Disappointed Mr Leishman is backed by the Scottish Conservatives' Renfrewshire Group Leader Neill Graham, who said: "This whole situation is farcical and was entirely avoidable. Those in Paisley Southeast and across Renfrewshire communities need the council to be fully transparent on this as a matter of urgency.
"There are serious questions for them to answer and why this major error wasn’t spotted before campaigning was well beyond the point of no return. When did they find out and ultimately know this by-election would have to be scrapped? Why did they not know this before agreeing that a by-election could be held?"
He added: "Renfrewshire Council can’t hide away from their mistakes. Voters deserve answers now on what is nothing short of a disastrous situation for the council."
But unrepentant Renfrewshire Council refused to offer any further detail on the debacle, saying simply: "The Paisley Southeast by-election due to be held on 14 December was cancelled following correspondence from Mr Mack’s solicitor confirming he has lodged an appeal with the Court of Session and a full statement was issued at the time by Renfrewshire’s Returning Officer explaining this."
Mack's hate campaign included branding one rival a "white supremacist" and a claim that Tory rival Councillor Mackay was hanging out "at cocktail hour" in "The Savoy", quaffing drinks and "slapping orphans, thinking you’re defying Hitler”.
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