Uncommon entry for Indians in ‘House of Commons’

The recently concluded House of Commons election in the UK saw a good many Indians and people of Asian origin getting into the British Parliament. A record 89 Asian candidates were in fray this time against 68 during the 2005 elections. As the results unfolded, UK saw the first hung parliament with the Opposition Conservative Party gaining at the cost of governing Labour party.
Most remarkable was the entry of Priti Patel (Conservative) who triumphed by a massive margin at Witham, thus becoming the first Gujarati woman to enter British Parliament. She, along with Valerie Vaz of Labour, who claimed a maiden victory at Walsall South, became the first women of Indian descent to enter Britain’s directly elected national legislature. Valerie joined her brother Keith Vaz of the same party, who retained Leicester East seat in the British Parliament for the sixth time. Keith has remained undefeated since 1987; Indian Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt campaigned for Keith during the election this time.
Hailing from Goa, Valerie and Keith became the first brother-sister amalgamation in the Commons since the 1950s.
The other significant victories were that of Alok Sharma from Reading West and Paul Uppal in Wolverhampton South West, both of whom defeated Labour candidates to enter
Parliament. Wolverhampton South West constituency is famous for housing the largest Sikh community in Britain. Also, as expected, Virendra Sharma of Labour held on to Sikh-dominated Ealing Southall, as did Shailesh Vara of the Conservatives in Cambridgeshire North West. Both widened the gap between them and their respective rivals.
Another Indian-origin conservative candidate, Paul Uppa won from Wolverhampton Southwest constituency.
Most noteworthy achievement is that of Marsha Singh who has uninterruptedly represented Bradford West since 1992. For those unaware, Bradford West is referred to as a little Pakistan. On all occasions, he was face to face with a contender of Pakistan origin but the electorate has continued to shower their support on him.
This election was particularly remarkable because it saw several woman MPs of Asian origin entering the British Parliament. Prior to this, no single woman had ever entered the Parliament as MP. The case of Sayeeda Warsi was different as she was a baroness rather than an MP. She has the honour of becoming the first Muslim woman to sit in the Parliament as baroness through Conservative support in 1997.
A record 22 Asian women were in fray during the polls from all three main parties – Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Several women candidates with origins in the Indian subcontinent got into the Parliament this time. This included the first Muslim woman MP, Shabana Mahmood, who won on Labour ticket from Birmingham Ladywood. A former Oxford graduate and barrister, Shabana Mahmood, is the daughter of the Birmingham Labour Party’s chairman and stood against another woman Asian candidate for the Conservatives, Nusrat Ghani.
Besides Shabana, Yasmin Qureshi – a 46-year old Pakistan born criminal barrister and a Labour candidate from Bolton South East - also won with a margin of more than 8000. Another Labour candidate, Rushanara Ali won from Bethnal Green and Bow constituency with a margin of over 11,000 votes. She has become the first candidate of Bangladeshi origin to win the election.
Overall, the number of Muslim MPs has doubled to eight in the closest elections in decades that also saw the first three Muslim women – all Labour – elected to the 650-member House of Commons.
For the records, the first male Asian MP Dadabhai Naoroji was Indian elected in 1892 from Finsbury in London. Mohammad Sarwar became UK’s first Muslim MP after winning Glasgow Central set in 1997.