As the results were announced, the East Retford East councillor accused his opposers of not fighting fair.

"It was a dirty campaign fought in my ward," said Coun Quigley. "There was a lot of rubbish information distributed by other candidates."

"These sort of lies don't work."

It was a clear victory for Coun Quigley who has led the council for four years. He took 1,145 votes with the Labour candidate, Robert Clyndes, receiving 470 votes and former Conservative turned Independent, Michael Jenkins receiving 422 votes.

It was bad news for Independent Geoff Coe who lost his seat in the Worksop East ward to Labour's John Scott.

The embittered Mr Coe refused to congratulate his successful opponent after the results were announced, refusing to shake his hand. He also suggested 'skullduggery' had been at play.

"It was unfair," said Mr Coe. "The fact that there were two independents pitched against one another weakened the vote. This has never happened before."

"If he is a better man than me then well done. But I will be watching him closely."

It is a first time success for Mr Scott, who is a staunch union man formerly working for the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) and UNISON.

There were only 82 votes in it with Labour's John Scott taking 663 and Independents Geoff Coe and Geoff Hurst with 581 and 357 respectively.

After the public finished voting at 10pm on Thursday, the ballot boxes were delivered to Eastgate's North Notts Arena for the slips to be counted and the votes verified from 10am today.

Returning officer David Hunter is currently overseeing the count for the third year running.

"We're looking forward to a successful day. We have many people lined up to take part in counting in the morning," he said.

This year one third of Bassetlaw Council seats are up for grabs. And of the 16 seats available in the district, 15 are being contested.

Councillors who are voted in will hold onto their seats for the usual four years.

Next year there will be a gap while all councillors serve a further year before the first third of councillors face the polls again in 2010.

We will be updating the story as more seats are announced. Keep logging on to www.worksopguardian.co.uk