The Quint brings you a snapshot of Indian-origin candidates in the UK elections on Thursday, May 7.
For the first time, Ealing Southall constituency in London will see a three-way contest between three Indian-origin candidates. Labour Party’s Virendra Sharma, 19-year-old Jaspreet Mahal from the Green Party and Kavya Kaushik of the Liberal Democrats.
Virendra Sharma
The two-time Ealing Southall MP, Virendra Sharma is contesting for the third time from the Labour Party.
Sharma left India in 1968 and became a bus conductor on the 207 route in London. Later, he studied at the London School of Economics on a trade union scholarship.
He started his political career by joining the Liberal Party, then switched to Labour in later years. Sharma was elected as MP in the Ealing Southall by-election in 2007. He held on to the seat again at the 2010 UK Polls.
He is a local school governor at Three Bridges and Wolf Field schools in London.
Jaspreet Mahal
While she may not be allowed to consume alcohol in India, or for that matter contest in elections, this teenage girl is prepared to contest elections and hope to be the next MP of Ealing Southall. 19-year-old undergraduate student, Jaspreet Mahal is a candidate of the Green party.
Jaspreet was born and raised in Southall, London and attended Villiers High School. She is currently studying for a degree in Politics and International Relations from Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College’s Ealing Campus.
Ealing Southall has always been a Labour Party stronghold and Labour veteran Virendra Sharma is a two-time MP from here. However, in an interview with the Hindustan Times, Mahal revealed the reason that motivated her to enter electoral politics.
I am just an ordinary student. I have not always wanted to be a politician. In fact, I used to hate politics. However, the government has forced students like me to stand up and take notice. The government has neglected us and has implemented policies leading to cut in youth services, low employment and high debt upon leaving universities.
– Jaspreet Mahal
Kavya Kaushik
Kavya Kaushik completes the three-way contest of Indian-origin candidates competing for the Ealing Southall Constituency. She is a candidate of the Liberal Democrats.
Born in London, Kaushik has studied at several universities, Politics and Literature from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. She also completed her education at the Administration Économie et Sociale (Economic and Social Administration) from Université Rennes II in Upper Brittany, France.
Kavya Kaushik joined the Liberal Democrats in 2010. In 2012, Kavya was elected as co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat youth wing, Liberal Youth.
She currently sits on The Federal Executive, The Federal Conference Committee, and on the board for Liberal Reform of the Liberal Democrats.
Seema Malhotra
She is the Labour Party candidate for Feltham and Heston Constituency in West London. Seema is in fact the sitting MP and is contesting for the second time.
Born and raised in London, she is a former management consultant who worked for Accenture and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. She is married to the senior managing director of Accenture, Sushil Saluja.
In August 2014 she was given the newly-created role of Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls by Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour Party.
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh
This former Scottish actress, who was born to an Indian-origin father in Chelsea, London is contesting from Ochil & South Perthshire Constituency in Scotland.
She had been a member of the Conservative Party since she was just 10 years old. But in 2000, she resigned in response to William Hague‘s “right wing” pronouncements on asylum seekers.
In July 2012, she joined the Advisory Board of Yes Scotland, the cross-party campaign for Scottish independence ahead of the upcoming referendum.
Gita Gordon
Born in India, Gita speaks fluent Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and has a working knowledge of Bengali. Born and raised in Kolkata, Gordon has been living in Blackpool for the last 10 years.
She is the party’s first woman Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) candidate from the Liberal Democrats, contesting for a North East constituency.
She is married with two young daughters and worked as a business development executive in banking and marketing, including helping to launch new lines for Calvin Klein perfumes. She has a degree in Welfare Studies from the University of Central Lancashire.
She is contesting from the South Shields Constituency, which is near Newcastle in England.
For other Indian-origin candidates, see the earlier story:
1. Indian-Origin Tory Candidates Add ‘Desi Masala’ to UK Polls 2015
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