12 MPs with Punjab roots enter UK’s House of Commons
Sukhmeet Bhasin
Bathinda, July 5
A record 12 Punjab-origin politicians entered the UK’s House of Commons on Friday as the Labour Party registered a historic victory in the parliamentary elections. The count stood at five in 2019.
Tasting success
- Preet Kaur Gill Birmingham Edgbaston
- Seema Malhotra Feltham-Heston
- Tanmanjeet Dhesi Slough
- Satvir Kaur Southampton
- Harpreet Kaur Uppal Huddersfield
- Sonia Kumar Dudley
- Warinder Juss Wolverhampton West
- Jas Atwal Ilford South
- Jeevun Sandher Loughborough
- Kirith Ahluwalia Bolton North East
- Gurinder Singh Josan Smethwick
- Gagan Mohindra South West Herts
(Gagan Mohindra a Conservative, rest are from Labour Party)
Of the 12 MPs, which includes six women, 11 belong to the Labour Party while Gagan Mohindra is from the Conservative Party. The prominent faces include Preet Kaur Gill from Birmingham Edgbaston, Seema Malhotra from Feltham and Heston and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi from Slough.
The trio have their roots in Jalandhar. Seema has won for record fifth time while it’s third term for both Gill and Dhesi. Gill is said to be a frontrunner to be a minister in the new UK cabinet. “An honour and a privilege to be re-elected again as an MP for Birmingham Edgbaston. Thank you to everyone who put their trust in me. I will continue to serve the people and place I love,” Gill wrote on X. Her father Daljit Singh was the longest-serving president of Guru Nanak Gurdwara at Smethwick, which was the first Sikh shrine in the UK.
Gill was elected as a councillor for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. In 2017, she was give the ticket by the Labour Party from Birminghan Edgbaston and she became the first woman British-Sikh MP.
Dhesi, who is the first turbaned Sikh MP in the UK, posted on X, “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.”
Dhesi’s father Jaspal Singh Dhesi is the former president of Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara at Gravesend, the largest Sikh shrine in the UK. He was first elected as a councillor to the Gravesham Borough Council in 2007. He later went on to become the Gravesham Mayor between 2011 and 2012. He lost his MP poll from Gravesham in 2015, but won in 2017, 2019 and 2024 from Slough.
