13 Indian-origin candidates from Conservatives, Labour names 14

The upcoming June 8 election in the United Kingdom has been referred to as the “most boring” in recent years – no standout quote or image so far – but as the cut-and-thrust quickens with Labour Party’s manifesto on Tuesday, the Indian contingent is showing more diversity.

The Conservative Party has nominated 13 Indian-origin candidates, down from 17 in the 2015 election, while Labour has named 14, the same as in 2015.

Both parties had five Indianorigin MPs in the last Parliament. The 10 MPs elected in the last parliament may be comfortably placed, but most of the candidates face a stiff challenge given the large margin of victories of rivals in their constituencies.

Sunder Katwala, director of think-tank British Future, told HT: “The 2017 election appears a much more one-sided contest than 2015, when David Cameron’s Conservatives placed emphasis on British Indian voters.

“A strong national poll lead puts less short-term pressure on the party to reach out. The Conservative Party continues to see itself as having a long-term interest in breaking down the historic allegiance of Indian voters to the Labour Party.”

Voters from the Indian community, Katwala said, wanted to see EU free movement rules change after Brexit, but were worried about anti-immigration rhetoric during the rise of the UK Independent Party and want to see action from all parties on racism and hate crime.

He said: “Progress on British Asian representation in the House of Commons is set to be RAHOuL BHANSALI SuELLA FERNANDES SAMIR JASSAL AMEEt JOGIA RESHAM KOtECHA PRItIPAtEL

REENA RANGER ALOK SHARMA MEERA SONECHA RISHI SuNAK MINESH TALAtI PAuL UPPAL SHAILESH VARA Seema Malhotra is one of 14 Indian-origin candidates to be nominated by the Labour party. KEItH VAz VIRENDRA SHARMA NEERAJ PAtIL

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steady rather than spectacular, after the surge in ethnic minority MPs in 2010 and 2015. The Conservatives may overtake the Labour Party in having more ethnic minority and British Asian MPs.”

Indian-origin candidates were among the first non-whites to be elected to Parliament — Dadabhai Naoroji was elected in 1892, followed by Mancherjee Bhownagree (1895) and Shapurji Shaklatvala (1922).

It was only after 1987 that the Parliament saw a substantial number of non-whites being elected. The number spiked since the 2010 election — from 27 in 2010 to 41 in 2015. The June 8 election is expected to return a similar number of MPs from the black and minority ethnic communities, but the number reveals consolidation of minority representation in Britain’s Parliament. SEEMA MALHOtRA VALERIE VAz

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