Nepali-Origin Candidates Elected as Councillors in UK Local Elections

London, May 9: Several candidates of Nepali origin have been elected as councillors in local elections held across the United Kingdom, according to results announced on Thursday.

In the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London, Jeet Ranabhat, a former mayor, has been elected a councillor from Plumstead & Glyndon ward under the Labour Party, securing 1,610 votes. His spouse, Gaumaya Gurung, also from the Labour Party, has won in Abbey Wood ward with 1,292 votes. Gurung has been elected for the first time.

Ranabhat had previously served as both mayor and deputy mayor of the borough.

In Rushmoor Borough of Aldershot, Conservative Party candidate Jib Narayan Belbase has been re-elected as a councillor from Manor Park ward with 891 votes. In the same borough’s Wellington ward, former Gurkha Uttar Bahadur Gurung has also been elected a councillor with 551 votes.

In Reading Borough, Pratiksha Gurung of the Labour Party has won in Battle ward with 1,180 votes, becoming the first councillor of Nepali origin from the borough.

Similarly, in the London Borough of Barnet, Conservative Party candidate Lakshya Gurung has been elected for a third term from Edgwarebury ward, receiving 1,951 votes.

Around 18 candidates of Nepali origin had contested in the UK local elections this year.