As many as 18 Sikh political leaders were elected to the Lower House of the Canadian Parliament in the recently concluded general election, according to a report by The Times of India. The election result was declared on October 22.
The number is higher than that in India, where 13 Members of Parliament (MPs) belonging to the Sikh community were elected to the 17th Lok Sabha in the general election held in April-May.
The Sikh community constitutes around 2 percent of the population in both, India and Canada.
According to the report, among the 18 MPs, 10 are from Ontario province, four from British Columbia, three from Alberta and one from Quebec. Out of these, 13 belong to the Liberal Party, four to the Conservative Party and one, Jagmeet Singh, to the New Democratic Party (NDP). Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
In the Liberal government elected in 2015, Indian-Canadians had won a record 19 seats. Of those, 18 were of Punjabi origin.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's outgoing Cabinet has four Sikh members -- defence minister Harjit Sajjan; infrastructure minister Amarjeet Sohi; innovation, science and economic development minister Navdeep Bains and tourism minister Bardish Chagger.
On October 22, Trudeau's party held onto power in a nail-biting poll, albeit a weakened minority government.
Trudeau now requires at least 13 legislators from his left-leaning rival parties to reach the 'magic number' of 170 to form a Liberal Party-led minority government in the 338-seat House of Commons.
In such a situation, Indian-origin Canadian Jagmeet Singh-led NDP, which won 24 seats in the general election, is likely to emerge as the 'kingmaker'.
(With inputs from PTI)
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