A record 28 Indian-origin lawmakers were elected to the British Parliament on Friday, with several Conservative MPs surviving an extremely tough result for their party.
Of the 28, 12 members of the Sikh community were elected to the House of Representatives, a record high, including six women. All of the Sikh MPs are Labour Party members, with nine elected for the first time, two for three consecutive terms and one for a second time.
British Sikh MPs Preet Kaur Gill (defeating first-time Conservative MP Ashville Sangha) and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi were elected for a third time for Labour in Birmingham Edgbaston and Slough respectively. Nadia Whittome, who identifies as queer, Catholic Sikh, was elected for a second consecutive term in Nottingham East. At 23, Whittome was the youngest member of the House of Commons when she was first elected in 2019.
Kiris Entwistle (aka Kiris Ahluwalia) became the first female MP to be elected for Bolton North East. Sonia Kumar also became the first female MP to be elected for Dudley. Similarly, Harpreet Kaur Uppal became the first female MP for Huddersfield.
The UK has 12 Sikh MPs, second only to Canada, which has a significant Punjabi immigrant population and has 18 Sikh MPs.
Outgoing Chancellor Rishi Sunak led the Conservatives in retaining their seats after a landslide victory in the Yorkshire constituency of Richmond and Northallerton. Other prominent Indian Conservatives who retained their seats include former home secretaries Suella Braverman and Priti Patel, and Sunak’s fellow cabinet minister from Goa, Claire Coutinho.
Gagan Mohindra defended his South West Hertfordshire seat against the Conservatives, while Shivani Raja increased her party’s seats in the hotly contested Leicester East constituency, against Indian-origin Labour candidate Rajesh Agrawal.
The pair had campaigned on a platform of trying to stop council budget cuts from switching off the city’s famous Diwali lights, as did former MP Keith Vaz, who ran as an independent. Mr Vaz was defeated.
Among the Conservative candidates who suffered major defeats were Shailesh Vala, who narrowly lost his seat in North West Cambridgeshire to Labour, and first-time candidate Ameet Jogia, who also lost the Conservative-held seat of Hendon in London to Labour.
Reflecting the overall tally, Labour had the most successful Indian immigrant candidates, including party veterans such as Seema Malhotra. Goan-born Valerie Vaz, sister of Keith Vaz, won in Walsall and Bloxwich, and Lisa Nandy won in Wigan.
