A record number of 26 Indian-origin MPs are set to enter the UK Parliament after July 5’s General Election results, marking a significant increase from 15, five years ago.
Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak, the first Indian-origin person to have served as the UK Prime Minister, leads the pack after having secured victory from Richmond and Northallerton constituency in Yorkshire.
Apart from Sunak, 25 other Indian-origin MPs – including 20 from the Labour Party and five Conservatives – also emerged victorious on July 5.
Priti Patel, Conservative MP of Gujarati descent, won from Witham, Essex. Patel, who has served in various capacities, including Secretary of State for International Development, has been representing the constituency since 2010.
Gagan Mohindra, a prominent politician from a Punjabi Hindu background, secured his seat in South West Hertfordshire. Mohindra has been a Conservative MP since 2019, following his initial election as a Parish Councillor in 2004.
Labour Party leader Seema Malhotra retained her Feltham and Heston constituency for a fourth term since 2011. Malhotra has held several shadow ministerial roles, including Shadow Minister for Skills and Further Education.
Valerie Vaz, Labour leader of Goan origin, won the Walsall and Bloxwich constituency for the fifth time. Vaz, who has been an MP since 2010, has served as the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.
Lisa Nandy retained her seat in Wigan, making her the constituency’s first female MP and one of the first Asian female MPs since 2010. She has served as the Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development.
Nadia Whittome, who made history in 2019 as the UK’s youngest MP at the age of 23, was re-elected from Nottingham East.
Preet Kaur Gill, the UK’s first female Sikh MP, defeated Conservative Ashvir Sangha in Birmingham, a seat she has held since 2017. Gill has served as the Shadow Minister for Primary Care and Public Health.
Labour Party’s Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi retained his Slough constituency, although with a reduced victory margin.
Conservative leader, another one with Gujarat-origins, Shivani Raja, won the Leicester East constituency, where she was fielded against another Indian-origin Labour candidate, Rajesh Agrawal.
44-year-old Conservative MP Suella Braverman, who was embroiled in controversies and dismissed by the party for her statements, won from the Fareham and Waterlooville constituency for the fourth consecutive time.
Additionally, other Indian-origin Labour MPs to be elected to the UK’s House of Parliament include Navendu Mishra, Jas Athwal, Baggy Shanker, Satvir Kaur, Harpreet Uppal, Warinder Juss, Gurinder Josan, Kanishka Narayan, Sonia Kumar, Sureena Brackenbridge, Kirith Entwistle, Jeevun Sandher, Sojan Joseph and Murina Wilson. (Courtesy : Gujarat Samachar )
12 MPs with Punjab roots enter UK’s House of Commons
12 MPs with Punjab roots enter UK’s House of Commons
Preet Kaur Gill, Seema Malhotra, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Gagan Mohindra
A record 12 Punjab-origin politicians entered the UK’s House of Commons on Friday as the Labour Party registered a historic victory in the parliamentary elections. The count stood at five in 2019.
· Preet Kaur Gill Birmingham Edgbaston
· Seema Malhotra Feltham-Heston
· Tanmanjeet Dhesi Slough
· Satvir Kaur Southampton
· Harpreet Kaur Uppal Huddersfield
· Sonia Kumar Dudley
· Warinder Juss Wolverhampton West
· Jas Atwal Ilford South
· Jeevun Sandher Loughborough
· Kirith Ahluwalia Bolton North East
· Gurinder Singh Josan Smethwick
· Gagan Mohindra South West Herts
(Gagan Mohindra a Conservative, rest are from Labour Party)
Of the 12 MPs, which includes six women, 11 belong to the Labour Party while Gagan Mohindra is from the Conservative Party. The prominent faces include Preet Kaur Gill from Birmingham Edgbaston, Seema Malhotra from Feltham and Heston and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi from Slough.
The trio have their roots in Jalandhar. Seema has won for record fifth time while it’s third term for both Gill and Dhesi. Gill is said to be a frontrunner to be a minister in the new UK cabinet. “An honour and a privilege to be re-elected again as an MP for Birmingham Edgbaston. Thank you to everyone who put their trust in me. I will continue to serve the people and place I love,” Gill wrote on X. Her father Daljit Singh was the longest-serving president of Guru Nanak Gurdwara at Smethwick, which was the first Sikh shrine in the UK.
Gill was elected as a councillor for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. In 2017, she was give the ticket by the Labour Party from Birminghan Edgbaston and she became the first woman British-Sikh MP.
Dhesi, who is the first turbaned Sikh MP in the UK, posted on X, “Huge honour to be re-elected by the good people of #Slough as their MP. They voted for change, unity and progress, which is what I will work hard to deliver.”
Dhesi’s father Jaspal Singh Dhesi is the former president of Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara at Gravesend, the largest Sikh shrine in the UK. He was first elected as a councillor to the Gravesham Borough Council in 2007. He later went on to become the Gravesham Mayor between 2011 and 2012. He lost his MP poll from Gravesham in 2015, but won in 2017, 2019 and 2024 from Slough.
