Bangladeshi origin Labour MP Rushanara Ali in final campaign lap

Candidates in Britain’s parliamentary election due on Thursday are giving the final push to their campaign.

Rushanara Ali, a contestant of Bangladeshi origin, is seeking re-election from the Bengali-dominated East London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow.
 
Ali, a Labour Party candidate, went canvassing for votes with her supporters at Bangla Town and Spitalfields on Monday.
 
She went from shop to shop, talking to voters at Brick Lane, highlighting the Labour Party’s promises.
 
She met the Brick Lane community leaders, seeking votes for her party.
 
At the very outset, she mourned the death of the former chairman of the Brick Lane Mosque Committee and community leader Ataur Rahman Chowdhury.
 
She sought votes on the basis of her party’s policies.
 

The other speakers were President of the UK unit of the Awami League Sultan Sharif, General Secretary Syed Farooq, Sylhet district Awami League General Secretary Shafiqur Rahman Chowhury, Tower Hamlets council speaker Abdul Mukit Chunu, and Mosque Committee Chairman M Sajjad Mia.

Almost 34 percent of Bethnal Green and Bow’s 100,000 inhabitants are of Bangladeshi origin.

This constituency of 80,000 voters is considered safe for the Labour Party.

Ali became the first Bengali MP following her win from this constituency in the 2010 election.

In that election, she had defeated her nearest rival by a margin of 11,000 votes.

This time, 10 other candidates are also in the fray from this constituency.

Among them are Mathew Smith of the Conservative Party, Tina Lashmore of the Liberal Democratic Party, Pauline McQueen of UKIP, and Alistair Polson of the Green Party.