Police Scotland is investigating a claim that three Conservative candidates for Perth and Kinross posted false information on social media.
It is understood the returning officer forwarded the complaint to Police Scotland on Monday morning.
A complaint was made to the returning officer over information the candidates posted on Facebook as part of their campaign for the upcoming local elections.
Over the weekend Conservative candidates Andy Chan, Calum Milne and Noah Khogali all claimed the Conservatives put forward the lowest council tax increase proposal at last week’s PKC budget-setting meeting.
A couple of days after last week’s budget meeting Calum Milne - candidate for Perth City South - posted: "At a time when money is tight, only the Perth and Kinross Conservative led administration proposed the lowest increase."
He then posted a bar chart which showed the council tax proposals put forward by the Conservative, SNP and Liberal Democrat groups - but not the Independent/Labour group.
Fellow Perth City South candidate Andy Chan repeated the claim on his page and posted the same graph. He then encouraged voters to ask him questions about the council budget.
Mr Chan said: "Council taxes will be going up, but the Scottish Conservatives have kept it lower than any other party was proposing. If you have any questions about the budget, please get in touch and I can go into some more depth."
The Conservative administration’s proposal of a 2.5 per cent increase - which was voted through - was in fact the second lowest proposal. The Independent and Labour group - the council’s smallest political group - proposed a council tax freeze with an increase of zero per cent.
Strathearn Conservative candidate Noah Khogali repeated the comments made by Andy Chan on Facebook claiming the Conservatives offered the lowest council tax rate and encouraging voters to address him with any budget queries.
Labour councillor Alasdair Bailey’s complaint to the returning officer is understood to have been forwarded to the police over concerns they breach the representation of the people act.
Reacting, Labour councillor Alasdair Bailey said: "This campaign has not even officially started yet but the Tories are up to their usual tricks. Perhaps even they can’t believe that they went for higher taxes in Perth than Labour did? Council tax is regressive and hits poorest hardest. I’ve lodged a complaint with the RO [returning officer]."
All three posts have now been deleted.
On Monday, February 28 Cllr Bailey said: "The returning officer’s office forwarded my complaint to the police."
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We can confirm a report has been received.
"The information is being assessed and officers are liaising with the Electoral Commission."
A PKC spokesperson said it would be inappropriate for the council to comment while a live investigation is under way.
A spokesperson for the Perth and Kinross Conservatives said: "The graphic was published following the setting of the council tax rates at Perth and Kinross Council last week. It depicted the three council tax increases along with a series of other graphics which illustrated aspects of how public money would be spent over the coming year. The council tax graphic showed the three main political parties and the rises which they proposed of which the Scottish Conservatives, at 2.5 per cent, was the lowest increase. To avoid any confusion the post has now been deleted."
Voters will head to the polls on May 5 for the council elections.
