Dhaka/London/Nagpur: Tulip Siddiq, grand daughter Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s and a niece of Bangaldesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s, has become a member of British parliament winning comfortably in what had been described as the tightest race in the 2015 UK election.
After a nervy night for their Labour party which suffered shock defeats in many constituencies and lost the election overall, three ‘daughters of Bangladesh’ became members of ‘mother of all parliaments’. Siddiq made it look easy, widening the 42-vote Labour majority in 2010 in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency to a comfortable 1,088 votes, belying all predictions and defying press propaganda unleashed on the young politician.
Siddiq polled 23,977 votes, with her nearest rival from the Conservative party winning 22,839 votes. Earlier, another British-Bangladeshi, Rupa Huq, had been declared elected from Ealing Central and Acton, a north-west London seat, by a narrow margin of 274 votes.
Hailed by a major British newspaper as one of the rising stars in politics, Siddiq became one of only three British-Bangladeshis ever to become MP in the United Kingdom after Rushanara Ali five years ago. Ali was re-elected from her Bethnal Green and Bow constituency in east London. Huq polled 22,002 votes while her Conservative rival got 21,728. “If you know me, you know the hard work has just started,” Siddiq said after the results were announced by the local returning officer.
Tulip Siddiq is applauded by fellow candidates after winning the Hampstead and Kilburn seat.
