Who's been hit by the #Labourpurge?

Voting is underway in the Labour party leadership elections, with ballots dispatched and the majority of votes likely cast this week. But despite this, plenty of "broadeners of the debate" who thought they were home and dry with a vote in the contest are being informed that their choice won't be counted. Labour is keen to show that only those who support its values and aren't part of rival parties will be able to decide its future, and has set up a second taskforce to weed out those who don't. It's reportedly referring to the process as "operation icepick." The party says it won't give a running commentary on numbers, but we can confidently assume that a fair few more than the 1,200 recently quoted have had their bids rejected. Many of them, and those who support them, are getting quite angry, and the hashtag #Labourpurge has started trending. So who has been purged? Here's a few examples: This chap, who once tweeted his support for Caroline Lucas, the Green MP

I am shocked - shocked! - by what Labour have done here. pic.twitter.com/9jthKNA6cy — James Chalmers (@ProfChalmers) August 20, 2015

This guy, who sits on the National Executive Committee of the National Health Action party

I am in shock. I have voted Labour in every election, including the last one. But I do want a non-privatised NHS pic.twitter.com/eR4yteN0k1 — Marcus Chown (@marcuschown) August 20, 2015

Some people claim to have been purged despite being full members of the party, like Rosie:

Well now this is awkward. You go on television to talk enthusiastically about being a Labour member and then they reject your membership. — Rosie (@rosieatlarge) August 20, 2015

The shared factor between many people complaining of a purge on Twitter is that they're left wing, and often young. That may partly be because telltale tweeting—for example, tweeting about joining another party—is likely to get you dismissed, as Stephen Bush explains over at the Staggers, so those more active on the social network (full of lefties and young people) are probably more likely to get caught. But that hasn't stopped many accusing the party of a conspiracy against leading candidate Jeremy Corbyn:

Jaw on the floor over how far they'll go to stop Corbyn. Last night it was smears in the press; today an actual #LabourPurge of supporters. — Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) August 20, 2015

Spotting a pattern to this #LabourPurge... pic.twitter.com/ZDEjmO7nAX — The Media Blog (@TheMediaTweets) August 20, 2015

And some of his supporters are encouraging people who have been "purged" to register with a central database:

Have you been denied a vote in the #LabourPurge of supporter lists? If so, please contact @BeresfordMatt who's compiling a database. — GeorgeMonbiot (@GeorgeMonbiot) August 20, 2015

oh sod it, that's probably not a very helpful way of doing it. DM @BeresfordMatt if you've been rejected instead. #LabourPurge — Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) August 20, 2015

Is this a "purge?" That's debatable. On the one hand, labour did want to "broaden the debate" with this election. On the other, it's hard to argue it's unreasonable to remove some people people— those who have actively campaigned against Labour in the recent past, for example. But right or wrong, the furious reaction shows the force of pro-Corbyn feeling against the party mainstream. “I will absolutely use our supporters to push our agenda up to the parliamentary party and get them to follow that,” Corbyn told the Independent this week. It looks like those supporters might end up having a fair bit of clout.