With the number of lawmakers of Indian descent set to be elected from throughout the country, the general election in Britain is predicted to produce the most diverse Parliament in the history of the country.
The Labour Party is expected to have a landslide majority of MPs from ethnic minorities if the party wins an overall majority, according to an estimate by the Future think tank of Britain.
The research concludes that the new Parliament will be closer than ever to reflecting the variety of the British population, with about 14% of MPs hailing from ethnic minorities this time.
Fifteen Members of Parliament of Indian ancestry crossed the line in the 2019 general election in Britian. Many of them are running again alongside a number of newcomers.
The two most well-known British Indians not running for reelection this time are Virendra Sharma, a veteran of the Labour Party, and Alok Sharma, a member of the Conservative Party. They are from Reading West and Ealing Southall regions of Britain, respectively.
Sangeet Kaur Bhail and Jaginder Singh, two British Sikh candidates running as Independents in the latter seat, have a sizable Punjabi voter base.
Praful Nargund, running as an Independent for the Labour Party in Islington North, the seat held by the party’s now-suspended former leader Jeremy Corbyn, is one of the major British Indian candidates to keep an eye on in Thursday’s vote.
While Baggy Shanker is running in Derby South, Satvir Kaur is running in Southampton Test, and Harpreet Uppal is running in Huddersfield, Jas Athwal is running in Iford South, another Labour stronghold.
The Indore-born former Deputy Mayor of London for Business, Rajesh Agrawal, is running against fellow British Indian Conservative candidate Shivani Raja to become the first-ever Member of Parliament from Leicester East.
This constituency, which has a sizable electorate of Indian descent, will be closely monitored since Keith Vaz, a former long-serving MP of Goan descent, is running as an independent.
British-Indian Sikhs will be looking to gain ground for Labour, as will Bihar-born Kanishka Narayan running in the Vale of Glamorgan, where she hopes to become the first Indian-origin MP from Wales, and Sonia Kumar, who hopes to unseat a Tory majority in Dudley. British-Indian Sikhs include solicitor Warinder Juss from Wolverhampton West in central England and Gurinder Singh Josan from Smethwick. Chandra Kanneganti of Stoke-on-Trent Central and Ameet Jogia of Hendon are up against it for the Conservative Party in a contest that is usually predicted to go in favour of the opposition Labour Party.
Among the current Members of Parliament in Britian, Tory MPs Shailesh Vara from North West Cambridgeshire, Gagan Mohindra from South West Hertfordshire, and Claire Coutinho from East Surrey are the British Indians most susceptible to a Labour flip in the election.
In the meanwhile, former Cabinet colleagues Priti Patel in Witham, Essex, and Suella Braverman in Fareham and Waterlooville are anticipated to retain their seats, as is British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Richmond and Northallerton in northern England.
There will be about 158 new MPs in the House of Commons as a result of a number of retirements and exits, most of which are from the current Conservatives. The new Parliament will be chosen on Friday.
