London, May 01: Election in England is going to be interesting this time as the number of candidates of Asian origin who are contesting the election has gone up to 89. It has generated a lots of interest among the people of Indian descent..
During last general election (2005), 68 candidates were in the fray in which 15 finally made it to the parliament. Several ethnic organisations are encouraging ethnic minorities to participate in the voting process. It is believed by many campaigners that voters from Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities could determine the outcome in as many as 100 constituencies. The people of Indian origin are more enthusiastic to vote than Pakistani or Bangladeshi,according to a recent survey.
The general election of 2010 will be held on 6 May for 650 constituencies to the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The election was announced on 6th April when Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited Buckingham Palace and asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament on 12 April.
Three major national parties have stake in these elections-Labour, Conservative and Liberal Demorat. The governing Labour Party has been the ruling party for three consecutive terms and will be looking to secure a fourth term in office .The Conservative Party will seek to gain a dominant position in UK politics after losses in the 1990s, and to replace Labour as the governing party. The Liberal Democrats hope to make gains from both sides.
One interesting aspect of these elections is that since 1979 none of the three main party leaders has headed a previous general election campaign., this election will be first under their leadership. Gordon Brown of Labour party became party leader in 2007 after the resignation of Tony Blair. It is also the first election to be faced by the main opposition party leaders, David Cameron of the Conservatives and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats.
It would be indeed interesting to see how many Indians make it to House of Commons this time. Going by their zest and gusto it looks as if it is Indian General Election for them.
—Agencies