Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Preet Kaur Gill have been elected for the third time.
London : India in general and Punjab in particular found a reason to celebrate the landslide victory of the Labour Party in the UK parliamentary elections, which saw a record 12 members from the Sikh community, including six women, being elected to the House of Commons, as per the results announced Friday. They are among the 28 Indian-origin members of Parliament who have elected.
All the Sikh MPs belong to the Labour Party. They include nine first timers, two who have been elected for the third consecutive time, and one who made it to the House of Commons for the second time.
British Sikh MPs Preet Kaur Gill — who defeated Tory first-timer Ashvir Sangha — and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi won back their seats for Labour in Birmingham Edgbaston and Slough, respectively for the third consecutive time.
Nadia Whittome, who identifies herself as a queer and a Catholic Sikh, won from Nottingham East for the second time in a row. At the age of 23, Whittome was the youngest MP in the House of Commons when she was first elected in 2019.
After his win, Dhesi, in a post on X, said, “Huge honour to be re-elected by the good people of #Slough as their MP. They voted for change, unity and progress…which is what I will work hard to deliver for them.”
“An honour and a privilege to be re-elected again as MP for Birmingham Edgbaston…I will continue to serve the people and place I love,” Preet Kaur Gill posted on X.
Dhesi and Preet Kaur have remained vocal on issues pertaining to Sikhs.
Kirith Entwistle, also known as Kirith Ahluwalia, became the first woman to be elected MP from Bolton North East. Sonia Kumar too became the first woman MP from the Dudley parliamentary seat. Similarly, Harpreet Kaur Uppal won the Huddersfield parliamentary seat to enter the Parliament for the first time.
While Labour Party’s Satvir Kaur won the Southampton Test seat by 15,945 votes, Warinder Juss won from the Wolverhampton West with 8,000 votes to reach Parliament for the first time. Dr Jeevun Sandher and Jas Athwal won from Loughborough and Ilford South parliament seats, respectively. Gurinder Singh Josan won Smethwick to become a first-time MP. Baggy Shanker, alias Bhagat Singh Shankar, won from Derby South.
With 12 Sikh MPs, UK is now second only to Canada, which is home to a sizeable Punjabi diaspora, and has 18 Sikh MPs. However, unlike UK where all Sikh MPs are from Labour Party, in Canada, they represent all three mainstream parties — 13 from Liberal Party, four from Conservative Party and one from the New Democratic party.
Preet Kaur Gill was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, to Indian parents, Daljit Singh Shergill and Kuldeep Kaur Shergill, on 21st November 1972. Her father worked as a foreman, then as a bus driver, and her mother worked as a seamstress.
Dhesi had become first turbaned Sikh MP of UK in 2017. Dhesi’s village, Raipur, is about 15 km from Jalandhar in Punjab. He has remained a vocal MP during his first two terms.
