London:
For the first time, two Indian-origin women Priti Patel and Valerie Vaz have been elected to the House of Commons, setting a new record for representation of ethnic minorities in Britain.
Priti Patel (Conservative)Conservative Priti Patel was declared elected from the Witham constituency.
Valerie Vaz (Labour)Labour candidate Valerie Vaz, sister of Indian-origin Labour MP Keith Vaz was elected from Walsall South.
Vaz himself retained his seat in Leicester East though his vote share got reduced by 5 per cent from the last elections.
It is the first time a brother-sister duo is being elected to the House of Commons.
More Asian candidates are expected to be elected as results come in.
Keith Vaz told PTI that the election results were expected to break the previous record of 15 Asian MPs.
Shahid Malik, Communities minister in the Gordon Brown government, lost his seat in Dewsbury.
Marsha Singh (Labour)Marsha Singh, a Labour candidate of Indian origin, romped home in Bradford West constituency.
Marsha Singh got 18,401 votes in Bradford West seat. He soundly beat Conservative's Zahid Iqbal who polled 12,638 votes. Liberal Democrat candidate David Hall-Matthews was third, BBC reported.
Parmjit Dhanda (Labour)In Gloucester, Parmjit Dhanda lost to Conservative's Richard Graham. It had been a close fight with Dhanda polling 17,847 votes while Graham beat him by getting 20,267 votes. Liberal Democrat's Jeremy Hilton was third with 9,767 votes.
Virendra Sharma (Labour)Indian origin Labour candidate Virendra Sharma, formerly a bus conductor, on Friday retained the Ealing Southall constituency in the British general election.
Sharma polled 22,024 votes, defeating closest rival Conservative Gurcharan Singh (12,733 votes). Liberal Democrat candidate Nigel Bakhai stood third.
Indian origin Labour candidate Manish Sood, who called his Labour party leader Gordon Brown "the worst prime minister", has lost badly in the Norfolk North West constituency in Britain.
Sood had hit out at Brown a couple of days before balloting. But the offensive did not help him in Thursday's balloting. According to the BBC, Sood got 6,353 votes and finished third.
The seat was won by Conservative Henry Billingham who polled 25,916 votes while Liberal Democrat William Summers stood second.
A record 89 candidates of Asian origin contested the elections this time. In the 2005 elections, there were 68 candidates and the highest number of ethnic minority MPs - 15 were declared elected.
Simon Woolley, OBV's director, said: "Never before in British history have our communities been so strategically well placed and mobilised to push for an agenda of racial justice."