UK Elections 2024: How Did Indian Origin Shivani Raja Break Labour's 37-Year Stronghold In Leicester East?

Shivani Raja, a 29-year-old businesswoman of Gujarati origin, has achieved a significant milestone by winning the Leicester East seat for the Conservative Party, ending the Labour Party's 37-year stronghold in the constituency.

Raja emerged as the only Conservative candidate to secure a seat from Labour in the UK election on July 4.

Who Is Shivani Raja And How She Got Stronghold In Leicester East?

With a total of 14,526 votes, Raja defeated the Indian-origin Labour Party candidate, Rajesh Agrawal, who previously served as the deputy mayor of London and garnered 10,100 votes. This victory is particularly notable as Leicester East has been a Labour bastion since 1987. For the first time in 37 years, the constituency has elected a Conservative representative.

"Conservative GAIN in Leicester East. A new dawn breaks in Leicester," Raja celebrated in a post on X.

On a night dominated by Labour's landslide victory, which saw the end of Conservative rule and the resignation of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Raja's win stood out as the only Conservative gain. Labour secured over 410 seats, while the Conservatives were left with just 121, as reported by India Today.

Leicester has had its share of tensions, as highlighted by clashes between Hindu and Muslim communities in 2022 following a cricket match between India and Pakistan on August 28, according to The Guardian. Raja referenced these tensions, criticizing MP Claudia Webbe for blaming Hindus prematurely, as reported by The Times of India.

For almost four decades, Leicester East had consistently elected Labour MPs, but the 2024 general election marked a dramatic shift, with Raja being elected to the House of Commons. "I'm really thrilled with the results in Leicester East tonight. The people in Leicester have been under Labour administration for nearly four decades. So yes, it indeed was time for a change here," Raja remarked.

Incumbent MP Claudia Webbe and former Labour MP Keith Vaz finished fourth and fifth, respectively. "From Leicester, For Leicester," Raja expressed in another X post. "It's an honour to be selected to serve my home city; the hard work starts now." In the 2019 election, Webbe won the seat with 25,090 votes, maintaining a majority of 6,019 votes, as reported by India Today.

Raja's win signifies a substantial political shift in Leicester East amid a broader Labour victory. Controversy has marred both Webbe and Vaz's careers. In 2021, Webbe was convicted of harassing a romantic rival. Her appeal in 2022 was unsuccessful, leading her to run as an independent candidate after being expelled from the Labour Party, as reported by India Today.

Vaz, who first won the seat in 1987, was expelled from the Labour Party last month after announcing his candidacy against the official Labour nominee in his former constituency for a new party, One Leicester. He had been suspended for six months in 2019 due to a drug-related investigation.

Raja's parents immigrated from Kenya and India to Leicester in the late seventies, eventually settling in Rushey Mead in Leicestershire. She graduated from De Montfort University with a degree in Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science and later worked with several major cosmetics brands in England.