"The next Parliament looks set to be our most-diverse ever - with more ethnic minority candidates likely to be elected whichever way the political pendulum swings on election night," says an analysis by the British Future think tank. "Candidate selections have been very much a game of two halves - with a late surge in selections to replace retiring MPs and those who were standing down mitigating a decline in the proportion of non-white candidates selected in target seats," it notes.The ethnic minority surge in the number of MPs is expected to include all the Indian-origin MPs from the last election, except Labour's Keith Vaz - who announced his resignation just ahead of the election in the wake of a sex scandal.For the Tories, Priti Patel, Alok Sharma, Rishi Sunak, Shailesh Vara and Suella Braverman are set for a return. For the Labour Party, besides Gill and Dhesi, the others contesting so-called safe seats include Keith Vaz's sister Valerie Vaz , Lisa Nandy, Seema Malhotra and Virendra Sharma. "Depending on the results, it's possible that one in 10 MPs will be from an ethnic minority background. "Our effort has been to focus on all areas with a significant Indian diaspora population to try and better inform the electorate," said OFBJP president Kuldeep Shekhawat.

Source: Economic Times December 08, 2019 06:11 UTC