REGISTRATION is closed and the Oldham Council elections are around 15 days away.

One of three seats in each of the borough's wards is up for election when the polls open on May 5, and an additional seat in Medlock Vale Ward.

READ MORE: Oldham Council local elections – full list of candidates.

The Labour Group holds overall control of the council with 40 seats, but it lost six seats in last year's elections, including that of then-leader Sean Fielding.

Here are some wards to watch when the polls open this time around.

CHADDERTON SOUTH

As mentioned above, the leader of the Labour Group and all of Oldham Council Sean Fielding lost his seat in Failsworth West Ward in last year's elections.

Now the seat of his successor, Arooj Shah, is up for election in Chadderton South Ward.

Cllr Shah won her seat in the ward in 2018 by a significant margin of more than 300 votes, but she has seen a number of controversies in her time in office.

Recently, she accused the Conservative Group of involvement in the distribution of malicious leaflets, something the Conservative Group denied.

Opposition to Cllr Shah is set to be concentrated behind one or two candidates, as only Conservative Robert Barnes and Lib Dem Joe Beeston stand against the council leader.

COLDHURST

Coldhurst Ward was one of the wards with the tightest winning margins in last year's elections.

It was so tight the losing candidate Montaz Ali Azad launched a legal challenge against the winning candidate, Labour's Abdul Jabbar.

Mr Azad withdrew the legal challenge and was ordered to cover costs of around £50,000 incurred by Cllr Jabbar and the returning officer back in December.

But in 2022 the independent candidate is back, this time to take on the incumbent Abdul Malik.

Also bidding to unseat Cllr Malik are Conservative Michele Stockton and Lib Dem John Hall.

FAILSWORTH EAST and FAILSWORTH WEST

The last two elections have been a breakthrough for the Failsworth Independents, with leader Brian Hobin's win in Failsworth East Ward three years ago followed by wins for Neil Hindle in the same ward and Mark Wilkinson in Failsworth West Ward a year ago.

The party now has a chance to take total control of Failsworth East, where Lucia Rea takes on Labour's Marzia Babakarkhail and Lib Dem Lynne Thompson, and to strengthen its presence in Failsworth West, where Sandra Ball takes on Labour's Peter Davis and Lib Dem Keith Pendlebury.

MEDLOCK VALE

Two seats are up for election in Medlock Vale Ward, as opposed to the one seat in other wards. This is due to the surprise resignation of Conservative Sahr Abid, who stepped down last month.

When Ms Abid won a seat last year, she put an end to the Labour Group's total control of the ward.

It will be interesting to see if it returns into Labour's hands, or if the Conservative Group or another group can continue to make inroads.