14 Bangladeshi descendants fighting it out in UK general election

Fourteen candidates of Bangladeshi origin are contesting in the UK general election.

Of them, eight are running from Labour Party, one from Liberal Democrats, one from Friends while four are running as independents.

Britons began voting on Thursday in the snap election predicted to give Prime Minister Theresa May a larger parliamentary majority.

The UK last went to the polls on May 7, 2015, when the Conservatives came to power by winning the majority of 331 seats out of the 650 available in the parliament.

Five British Bangladeshis competed for the Labour Party in that election in 2015. Three of them won: Rushanara Ali, Tulip Siddiq and Rupa Haq.

The three are also seeking reelection this year from the same constituencies. They are joined by Anwar Babul Miah, Marina Ahmed, Raushan Ara, Foysol Chowdhury MBE and Abdullah Rumel Khan.

Saju Miah is a Liberal Democrats candidate, while Afzal Choudhry is in the fray from the minor Friends Party.

Ajmal Masroor, Oliur Rahman, Abu Nowshed and Mirza Zillur are vying to go the parliament as independent candidates.

Prime Minister May on Apr 18 announced the snap general election, despite repeatedly claiming that she was against the idea of an early vote.

The prime minister claimed that opposition parties were jeopardising her government’s preparations for Brexit.

A final survey backed other opinion polls in the last 24 hours, suggesting that the Conservatives had widened their lead following a tricky campaign in which their support appeared at times to be ebbing away.

But as many as one in five voters was still undecided this week after a seven-week campaign overshadowed in the later stages by two Islamist attacks that killed 30 people in Manchester and London in less than two weeks.

Most polling stations had increased security as they opened at 0600 GMT, with armed police expected to reinforce regular officers at some locations.