By Asia Samachar | Malaysia |
Eleven Sikh MPs, all of them from the Labour Party, were elected to the UK Parliament in the 2024 general election, making them the second biggest group of Sikh-origin lawmakers after Canada.
They won on the back of a landslide victory for the Labour which scooped up 412 out of the 615 seats up for grabs (with one more result yet to be confirmed), pushing the Conservative Party out of power after running the country for 14 years.
Two of the Sikh MPs are returning to the House of Commons, as the lower Parliament House is known, for the third time. They are Preet Kaur Gill who defeated Tory first-timer and son of a Sikh farmer Ashvir Sangha in Birmingham Edgbasto, and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi who captured Slough.
Four newly elected Sikh women MPs were Satvir Kaur (Southampton Test), Harpreet Kaur Uppal (Huddersfield), Sonia Kaur Kumar (Dudley) and Kirith Ahluwalia Entwistle (Bolton North East).
The other Sikh candidates who will serve as MPs under incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer are Gurinder Singh Josan (Smethwick), Jas Athwal (Ilford South), Warinder Singh Juss (Wolverhampton West), Dr Jeevun Sandher (Loughborough) and Baggy Shanker @ Bhagat Singh Shanker (Derby South), all first-time MPs as well.
Nadia Whittomemp, daughter of a Sikh father and an Anglo-Indian Catholic solicitor, was reelected for the second time from Nottingham East. The 28-year old lawmaker self-describes herself as a queer and a baptised Catholic who does not follow any religion.
They are part of the 28 persons of Indian origin elected in the June 4 elections. A record number of 107 British-Indian candidates contested the 2024 UK polls, according to one media report, which marked the end of Rishi Sunak’s premiership as the UK’s first British-Indian Prime Minister.
There were other Sikh contestants in the election.
Preet defeated Tory first-timer and son of a Sikh farmer Ashvir Sangha. The Birmingham-raised and Oxford-educated challenger was a former communications adviser to Mayor Andy Street and former president of the Oxford Union.
Penang-born Sangeet Kaur Bhail was one of the six independent candidates for the Ealing Southall seat which was won by Dublin-born Deirdre Costigan with a huge majority. Two other Sikhs contesting in the same seat were Joginder Singh Bhangu and Jaginder Singh.
Preet holds the distinction of being the first Sikh female to be elected as an MP while Tanmanjeet became the first turban-wearing Sikh MP in Britain and Europe.
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