Rishi Sunak to Kanishka Narayan: Record number of British-Indian MPs won the elections in UK

In the 2024 UK general election, a total of 107 British-Indians are vying for the 680 available seats

Keir Starmer became the Prime Minister of Britain after his Labour Party witnessed a landslide victory on Friday in the parliamentary elections that took place on July 4. The Conservatives, led by Rishi Sunak, saw one of the worst election defeats.

Sunak conceded defeat to the opposition Labour Party as voters in the UK general election delivered a devastating verdict.

Congratulating Starmer over the results, Sunak said, "I take responsibility for the loss to the many good, hard-working, conservative candidates who lost tonight despite their tireless efforts, their local records of delivery and their dedication to their communities, I am sorry."

Sunak, who became the first Indian-origin Prime Minister of UK, held on to his own Richmond and Northallerton seat in northern England. Apart from Sunak, several other British-Indian candidates who contested the general election on July 4 won their seats.

Here's a look at the names of Indian-origin MPs who won in 2024 UK election:

Rishi Sunak, the outgoing British Prime Minister won his seat in the Richmond and Northallerton constituency with 47.5 per cent of the vote. Sunak, who was chosen as UK's first Indian-origin Prime Minister in 2022, conceded defeat as his Conservative Party was on course for one of its worst election defeats and the Keir Starmer-led Labour Party hurtled towards a landslide victory in the historic UK election.

Shivani Raja won from Leicester East, gaining the seat from the Labour Party. She secured 14,526 votes, which is over 4,000 votes more than Labour's Rajesh Agrawal. Born in Leicester, Raja studied there at Herrick Primary, Soar Valley College, Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth II college. She graduated with First Class Honours in Cosmetic Science from De Montfort University.

Suella Braverman, the Conservative Party candidate, won from the Fareham and Waterlooville seat with 17,561 votes. Braverman has represented the people of Fareham since 2015, being re-elected in 2017 and 2019, on both occasions increasing the share of the vote for the Conservatives. The Indian-origin Prime Minister was forced out as home secretary after challenging the Prime Minister.

Labour's Kanishka Narayan became the first MP of Welsh from a minority background, beating former Welsh Sec Alun Cairns. Narayan was born in India and moved to Cardiff when he was 12. He got into Eton on a scholarship and went on to study at Oxford and then Stanford before becoming a civil servant.

Priti Patel successfully defended her seat in Witham, Essex, securing 37.2 per cent of the vote. A member of the Conservative Party, she has represented Witham as an MP since 2010. Seema Malhotra, Claire Coutinho, Gagan Mohindra, Valerie Vaz, Lisa Nandy, are among the other Indian-origin MPs who have been elected to the House of Commons.

British Sikh MPs Preet Kaur Gill, who defeated Tory first-timer Ashvir Sangha, and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi both won back their seats for Labour in Birmingham Edgbaston and Slough respectively. Navendu Mishra (Stockport) and Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) were among the other Labour MPs re-elected with convincing majorities.

It was among the newcomers that British Indians made a big mark for the Labour Party, with Jas Athwal (Ilford South), Baggy Shanker (Derby South), Satvir Kaur (Southampton Test), Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield), Warinder Juss (Wolverhampton West), Gurinder Josan (Smethwick), Sonia Kumar (Dudley), Sureena Brackenbridge (Wolverhampton North East), Kirith Entwistle (Bolton North East), Jeevun Sandher (Loughborough) and Sojan Joseph (Ashford) among those set to take their seats in Parliament next week.

For the Liberal Democrats, who had a good election all around gaining over 60 seats, Munira Wilson won back her Twickenham constituency. Two Independent candidates with ancestral roots in India, Shockat Adam Patel (Leicester South) and Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) registered decisive wins in the pro-Palestine campaigning. While the former unseated a Labour Cabinet frontliner Jonathan Ashworth, the latter bagged more than 40 per cent of the votes.

(With PTI inputs)