A record 12 Indian-origin MPs won seats in the House of Commons in UK elections in which no party won a majority. All 10 sitting Indian-origin MPs held on to their constituencies whilst two Indian-origin first-timers made it to the House.
International development secretary Priti Patel, 45, of Ugandan-Gujarati heritage, retained her seat in Witham, a working-class heartland, with a comfortable majority of 18,646.
Agra born Alok Sharma, 49, former minister for Asia Pacific, clung on to Reading West in a tight race against Labour, but saw his majority slashed to 2,876 from 6,650.
Rishi Sunak, 37, son-in-law of Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy , swept to a resounding victory in wealthy rural Richmond in Yorkshire with an increased majority of 23,108. Suella Fernandes, 37, held on to Fareham with a slightly reduced majority of 21,555 and Conservative backbencher Shailesh Vara, 56, kept his North West Cambridgeshire seat with a majority of 18,008.
Labour, too, kept its five Indian-origin MPs. Britain’s longest-serving British Asian MP, Keith Vaz, 60, had no problem holding onto Leicester East with an increased majority of 22,428, fending off two Indian-origin candidates, Sujata Barot and Nitesh Dave. Vaz’s sister, 62-year-old Valerie Vaz, retained Walsall South with an increased majority of 8,892. India-born Virendra Sharma also won decisively, increasing his majority to 22,090 in Ealing Southall, home to one of the largest South Asian communities. Lisa Nandy , a 37-year-old Bengali, was the only Asian face standing in Wigan in Greater Manchester and she got an increased majority of 16,027.
Seema Malhotra, 44, won Feltham and Heston, an area popular with Punjabis, with an increased majority of 15,603, a constituency she has held since 2011.
The UK parliament now has four Punjabi origin MPs, all from the Labour Party, with sitting MPs Virendra Sharma and Seema Malhotra retaining their seats. Incidentally, all of them have their roots in Jalandhar.
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi became first turbaned Sikh MP while Preet Kaur Gill became the firstSikh woman to enter the UK parliament.
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More British Indian candidates, especially from Labour Party, like London Assembly Member Navin Shah would have won but for the caste issue haunting Labour, as well as Labor’s boycott of PM Modi when PM Modi was given the rare honor to addressed the joint Houses. Hardly any Labor MP, not even JC attended this event. This event is still fresh in our minds. Moreover Navin faced Conservative Bob Black who is a staunch supporter of British Indian community. Even last time Labour put forward a VG candidate in Miss Kumaran but then Hindu community supported Bob en-mass. This time Navin managed to halve Bob’s majority. It seems we may have another election in six months time. Hindu community should be ready and should have a plan, a vote bank to help candidates deemed to be friendly to our community, not wait until the last minute to approach us. We have poor opinion of Labour leader JC but he is popular, here to stay. So it is time our community leader meet him and find out where he stands, would he help us in matters dear to our heart. Perhaps we may get a surprise from IC!
congratulations to all the winners and hope they will serve to their best to its community.
very good collection of these VIPS we were so keen to know.
for record sake can you tell us how many Pakistanis have been elected. thanks.
congratulations to the winners. Y ou are our shining stars of this country.
BNBhanot
still waiting for news of Pakistani MPs.??
BNB