Shivani Raja, a 29-year-old entrepreneur of Gujarati origin, He has gained the Leicester East seat for the Conservative Occasion.ending 37 years of Labour dominance within the district. Raja was the one Tory candidate to win a seat from Labour within the 4 July UK election.
Shivani Raja gained 14,526 votes, defeating Indian-origin Labour Occasion candidate Rajesh Agrawal, a former deputy mayor of London, who gained 10,100 votes.
The victory was stunning as Leicester East has been a Labour stronghold since 1987. That is the primary time in 37 years that the constituency has elected a Conservative.
“Conservative win in Leicester East. A brand new daybreak dawns in Leicester,” Raja posted on X.
The victory was the Conservatives’ solely achieve on an evening dominated by Labour’s landslide victory, which ended the Conservative authorities and led to the resignation of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Labour gained greater than 410 seats, whereas the Conservatives have been left with simply 121.
In 2022, Leicester skilled clashes between Hindu and Muslim communities following a dispute that arose throughout a cricket match between India and Pakistan on August 28, The Guardian reported.
“Claudia Webbe MP blamed Hindus earlier than chatting with anybody,” Raja instructed The Occasions of India.
For nearly 4 many years, Leicester East had not elected a Conservative MP, however the 2024 normal election turned the tables and Raja was elected to the Home of Commons.
“I am actually delighted with the ends in Leicester East tonight. The individuals of Leicester have been underneath Labour rule for nearly 4 many years. So sure, it actually was time for a change right here,” Raja stated.
Incumbent MPs Claudia Webbe and Keith Vaz got here in fourth and fifth place respectively.
“From Leicester, for Leicester,” Raja wrote in one other put up on X. “It is an honour to have been chosen to serve my hometown, the exhausting work begins now.”
Within the 2019 election, Webbe gained the seat with 25,090 votes, sustaining a majority of 6,019 votes. Raja’s victory signifies a big political shift in Leicester East amid a broader Labour Occasion victory.
Each Webbe and Vaz have been surrounded by controversy all through their political careers. In 2021, Webbe was convicted of harassing a love rival.
Her attraction in 2022 was unsuccessful and he or she stood as an impartial candidate after being expelled from the Labour Occasion.
Vaz, who first gained the seat in 1987, was expelled from the Labour Occasion final month after saying his intention to run in opposition to the official Labour candidate in his former constituency for a brand new get together, One Leicester.
He had been suspended for six months in 2019 because of a drug investigation.
Raja’s mother and father emigrated from Kenya and India to Leicester within the late Nineteen Seventies and settled in Rushey Mead, Leicestershire. She graduated in Pharmaceutical and Beauty Sciences from De Montfort College and later labored with a number of main cosmetics manufacturers in England.