GREEN PARTY TAKES SECOND SPOT IN COUNCIL BY-ELECTION
THE Conservative party bagged a decisive victory in a Leicester council byelection last Thursday (13) after snatching a seat from Labour, which was pushed into third in a place hit by the recent civil unrest.
Sanjay Modhwadia won the North Evington seat for the Tories, who got nearly half of the votes cast (49.6 per cent) with a 32.7 per cent swing in their favour.
It was a miserable showing for Labour in a ward which was previously one of its strongholds as the party managed only 22.5 per cent of the votes.
The Green party clinched 25.8 per cent of the votes to finish second. The overall turnout in North Evington, a majority-Asian area dominated by the textile industry, was 45 per cent.
The by-election was triggered after the previous councillor – Vandevi Pandya of the Labour party – resigned from the Leicester City Council in August.
The new councillor got 3,441 of the 6,692 ballots cast. He will now join councillors Luis Fonseca and Rashmikant Joshi – both from Labour – in representing the ward.
The Conservatives now have two of the 54 seats on the council, following the defection of former Lord mayor Deepak Bajaj to the party, and former Tory councillor Daniel Crewe’s decision to finish his term as an independent.
The local Tory leadership said the result was positive for its future there.
Richard Tutt, chairman of the Leicester branch of the Conservative party, told LeicestershireLive, “Sanjay should be proud of winning on a platform of community cohesion and a strong vision for the future of North Evington.
“Just a few weeks ago, our city saw one of its darkest moments. Sanjay has united communities, as we have seen by last night’s result. Leicester is ready to see real change, and we are primed to challenge Labour across our city at the local elections next year.”
Modhwadia, a local businessman who campaigned on a platform backing the city’s textile factories, also pushed for a ‘Made in Leicester’ brand to boost the city’s profile globally.
The Green party was also celebrating after its win over Labour, with its candidate, Aasiya Bora, securing 1,790 votes.
Mags Lewis, the party’s spokesperson, told LeicestershireLive that the byelection result proved the Greens were still a key political player in Leicester.
“We’re hoping this is going to galvanise a lot more of our Green supporters to actually come forward and help us win seats,” she was quoted as saying.
She added that the party was looking to change the seconds to firsts.
Rajul Tejura, who represented the Labour party in the by-poll, received 1,563 votes. A spokesperson for his campaign said the outcome would serve as a wake-up call for the party locally, and promised it would fight to make a comeback in the full council elections next May.
“Obviously it’s a disappointing result compared to what we were expecting,” the spokesperson said. “It is clear that the council and the elected representatives have to do more to deliver for the people if they really want their vote.”