A Leicester council byelection resulted in a huge swing towards the Conservatives, as they took the seat from Labour, who were knocked into third place in an area gripped by civil unrest last month.
The Conservatives took 49.6% of the vote in North Evington, with a 32.7-point swing in their favour, while Labour received just 22.5% of votes.
The party was relegated to third place in a ward that was previously a Labour stronghold, with the Green party taking 25.8% of the votes. Overall turnout in North Evington, a majority-Asian area dominated by the textiles industry, was 45%.
Faith leaders in the area are working to improve relations after unrest broke out between Hindu and Muslim communities last month, and some felt ongoing tensions spilled over into the election campaign.
Labour’s candidate Rajul Tejura has faced accusations she is a supporter of India’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government, and a picture of her in front of a lifesize cutout of Narendra Modi, at an event she organised after his election victory in 2019, was shared widely on social media.
A spokesperson for Tejura said she was not a member or supporter of the BJP.
The city’s Labour mayor, Peter Soulsby, has commissioned an independent review to determine whether extremist Hindutva ideology, parts of which are pushed by the BJP in India, encouraged the disturbances last month.
The advocacy group Muslim Engagement and Development previously issued a statement saying it was concerned about Tejura standing as a candidate “during a period of heightened tension in the city” and urged the local Labour party to reconsider.
Her candidacy was also endorsed by the disgraced former Leicester East MP Keith Vaz, who appeared on a number of her campaign leaflets.
The victorious Conservative candidate, Sanjay Modhwadia, is a local businessman who campaigned on supporting the city’s textile factories and has pushed for a Made in Leicester brand to help boost the city’s global profile.
“North Evington was one of the jewels in the crown in Leicester East with the majority that Labour had, but that has been turned around completely,” said Abdul Osman, a former lord mayor of the city, who spent 20 years as a Labour councillor before defecting to the Conservatives.
“The fact that there was a big upsurge in the Green vote, that must have been a protest again at the Labour party. The trend nationally is against the Conservative government, but you have to look at a local administration that hasn’t delivered.”
The byelection came after the resignation of Labour’s Vandeviji Pandya, who took office following a byelection in May last year in a result that also showed a sharp swing towards the Conservatives.
The Tories also took a seat in the neighbouring Humberstone and Hamilton ward in a byelection last year, with 44% of the vote, giving the party its first council seat in two years.
A spokesperson for Tejura’s campaign team said: “This result is a wake up call for the Labour party. They have been in power for a very long time, not only in North Evington, but in the city itself, and it’s quite clear the council needs to do more and deliver for the people of Leicester if they want to continue with their support.
“We’re happy and proud of the campaign we’ve run, and we’re confident we can bounce back and win seats in May’s election.”
