UK POLLS: 13 INDIANORIGIN CANDIDATES IN LABOUR LIST

Labour party has nominated 13 Indian-origin candidates to contest the June 8 mid-term election.

Among those nominated is Neeraj Patil, a doctor who has been in the forefront of installing a statue of 12th century philosopher Basaveshwara near the houses of Parliament. The statue was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi during his visit here in November 2015. Patil graduated in 1993 from Gulbarga University in Karnataka, moved to Britain and went on to hold various positions in the London council of Lambeth, including mayor.

Labour had 14 Indian-origin candidates in the 2015 election, of whom five were elected and have been re-nominated — Keith Vaz (Leicester East), Valerie Vaz (Walsall South), Seema Malhotra (Feltham & Heston), Lisa Nandy (Wigan) and Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall).

The other eight in the 2017 list are Neeraj Patil (Putney), Rohit Dasgupta (East Hampshire), Hitesh Tailor (East Surrey), Navin Shah (Harrow East), Navendu Mishra (Hazel Grove), Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough), Kuldip Singh Sahota (Telford) and Manjinder Kang (Tewkesbury).

The Conservative and Liberal Democrats’ lists of candidates are yet to be released. The final line-up of candidates will be clear by May 11, the last date of filing nominations.

Analysts believe the 1.5 million-strong Indian community has been veering towards the Conservatives in recent polls. The June 8 polls has been dubbed the “Brexit election” after May said the main reason for calling it was to strengthen her position in talks with Brussels on the UK leaving the European Union.