For the first time ever, British parliament will have a turbaned Sikh MP. Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, who won on a Labour ticket from Slough, will be accompanied by another Sikh, a lady, Preet Kaur Gill, who has also won on a Labour ticket. She won from Birmingham Edgbaston. Expectedly, she becomes the first Sikh woman MP.
Labour, which made a big comeback with 262 seats, sent seven Indian origin MPs to Parliament, while the Conservatives sent five, making a record dozen Indian origin MPs.
The Liberal Democrats had fielded two Indian origin candidates but they failed at the hustings.
Tanmanjeet, who increased Labour’s vote share by 14.4 percent, tweeted: “Humbled and honoured to be elected.” His first visit was to the local gurdwara.
Among other Indian origin candidates winning were Labour’s Seema Malhotra and Virendra Sharma; the Conservatives’ Rishi Sunak (Yorkshire constituency of Richmond), who is the son-in-law of Infosys founder Narayan Murthy. Tanmanjeet defeated his Conservative party rival by 16,998 votes.
Said Gill: “I am delighted I have been given the opportunity to become the next MP for Edgbaston where I was born and raised. I want to engage with the people of Edgbaston and with hard work, passion and determination I think we can achieve great things together.”
—India Legal Bureau