Douglas Alexander faced calls to quit last night after the independent inquiry into last May's election fiasco brought accusations that ministers were among those who treated voters as "an afterthought".

Douglas Alexander faced calls to quit last night after the independent inquiry into last May's election fiasco brought accusations that ministers were among those who treated voters as "an afterthought".

The former Scotland Secretary, who is now at the International Development Department and Gordon Brown's General Election co-ordinator, was targeted by opposition MPs as the chief culprit in a series of blunders and delays that led to 146,000 spoiled votes, more than 10,000 postal votes being delivered too late, widespread voter confusion and long delays in results being announced.

The Paisley and Renfrewshire South MP was accused of "having his finger in the till" and of "attempted gerrymandering". He was not named in the report, but it was critical about the role of ministers at the Scotland Office.

"What is characteristic of 2007 was a notable level of party self-interest evident in ministerial decision-making," the report said.

It added: "At worst, the ministers disregarded the highly negative disruptive influence on the elections caused by their delays in arriving at key decisions. At best, they either overlooked or were poorly advised with regard to the serious operational consequences that could and did result."

The blame spread further: "Almost without exception, the voter was treated as an afterthought by almost every other stakeholder."

Alex Salmond seized on the report's recommendation that Holyrood should take control of its own elections, writing to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to propose discussions on such a transfer of powers.

The First Minister is expected to make a statement at Holyrood, possibly today, in which he will say if he wants a full judicial inquiry to follow the report by Ron Gould, the Canadian elections expert.

Recommendations in the report which have been accepted include a change in the Holyrood voting form, so the regional and constituency votes are split, having found that was the main cause of the multiple confusion, delays and spoiled ballots. Scotland Secretary Des Browne said electronic counting would no longer be used in Holyrood elections. He agrees with the Scottish Government that the council and Holyrood votes should no longer be on the same day.

But the Scotland Office is against further devolution of control over elections, and the proposal that votes should be counted during the day after voting, instead of overnight.

The Gould Report also said parties should not be allowed to use slogans in place of their names on ballot papers, such as "Alex Salmond for First Minister", which is credited with drawing many SNP votes.

Making a Commons statement, the Scotland Secretary had to take the political heat for his predecessor, who was on an overseas visit. Mr Browne accepted lessons had to be learned but defended his colleague's integrity, rejecting Mr Alexander "in any way acted in party self-interest".

Angus Robertson, the SNP's Westminster leader, said the report's allegations that ministers focused on "partisan political interests and overlooked those of the voter" were "a scandal in a western European democracy". He called for ministers to resign.

David Mundell, the Conservative Shadow Scottish Secretary, said the Scotland Office should "take responsibility for failing the people of Scotland". It had attempted "gerrymandering in the worst traditions of Tammany Hall politics".

For the LibDems, Alistair Carmichael said Mr Alexander should either explain himself to the Commons or be sacked.

Andrew Mackay, a Tory back bencher, asked of Mr Alexander: "How can he continue going round the Third World lecturing on democracy when he has been caught with his hand in the till?"