LONDON: The May 3 local elections in England have resulted in nearly 250 British Pakistanis being elected to office as councillors.
More than 500 candidates of Pakistani origin contested in the local elections held across England.
According to reports, 48 per cent of those who contested in the general elections have been declared winners, with a clear majority of them being from the opposition Labour party.
The remaining winners being Liberal Democrats and a handful from the ruling Conservative – also known as Tories. Out of the 250 British Pakistanis elected as councillors, 60 are women.
Region wise the highest number of elected candidates was from London. At least one winner is of Pakistani origin in 21 boroughs.
In the London borough of Hounslow, a record number of 14 candidates won, all from the Labour party. An equal number of men and women won from Hounslow, compared to just one winner from the 2014 elections. On the other hand, Birmingham now has 22 councillors of Pakistani origin while 16 candidates won from Manchester.
Bradford tops the list where 27 councillors are British Pakistanis — nine of them elected for the first time. The borough of Walthamstow council stands second with 12 elected councillors, with three of them being women, while 11 councillors won from the Redbridge borough, all from Labour Party.
Birmingham the second largest county after London, had 101 seats up for grabs after the recent boundary changes. A record number of 22 candidates of Pakistani origin were successful. For the Manchester City council, 16 candidates of Pakistani origin were successful with 10 males and six females.
In Leeds, nine seats went to Pakistani origin candidates including two females. Bradford also known as known as ‘Little Pakistan’, had nine seats that went to Pakistani origin candidates out of which four were women.
In a first for many councils in England, British Pakistani’s won for the first time in towns such as Thurrock, Rushmoor, and Redditch and in cities like Sunderland and Hull.
Sadiq Khan, the current mayor of London, former member of parliament (MP) Mohammed Sarwar, Khalid Mahmood MP, Imran Hussain MP, Sajjad Karim MEP, Rehman Chishti MP, Lord Qurban Hussain and Afzal Khan MP are just a few of the Pakistani-origin British nationals holding high political offices in the country.
