Several people of Indian origin won through on the back of the Labour Party in elections to 166 city and borough councils across Britain.
But the Indian success was confined to only a few of the boroughs. Of more than 4,000 council seats for which elections were held, Indians won a number estimated to be less than 50.
Proportionately that does not represent our numbers in the population, Balbir Singh, who stood down from the contest in his ward in Bradford, said. After years of settling in Britain, few Indians look to participation in the political process in Britain and fewer still win, he said.
The Indian victories were almost all on the strength of the Labour Party. New Conservative Party leader William Hague has expressed strong support for Indian participation in Conservative politics in Britain, as former Prime Minister John Major did before him. But that encouragement has not been matched by a specific offer to contest winnable seats.
British Indian Councillors Association (BICA) secretary Navin Shah won his seat in Harrow, as did its president Rabindra Pathak in Ealing, the borough that includes Southall. Several other members of BICA won their elections.
Overall, the Conservatives made a minor gain of about 250 seats. But Labour gains in the Indian-heavy areas challenge views that Indian voters are moving significantly towards the Conservatives.
In the borough of Brent, which includes Wembley, Labour gained control with a 20-seat majority. They had led the last council only with the support of the Liberal Democrats. This is a borough with a more than 50 per cent population of South Asians, mostly Indians. That is the highest density of South Asians in any borough in Britain.
In the borough of Ealing, Labour gained six seats from the Conservatives and lost one to them. A Conservative gain of 250 seats in a total of 4,000 is too small to be a trend, but to the extent it is, the Labour Party mostly reversed it in the Indian-dominated boroughs.
An exception was Leicester where elections were held for only some seats. The Labour share of the vote dropped sharply in these by-elections from the time of the previous election in 1996.
