Dhaka: Bangladeshi-origin Labour Party candidates Rushanara Ali from Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq from the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency and Rupa Asha Huq from the constituency of Ealing were elected MPs in UK general election held on Thursday. 

Rushnara Ali

Rushara polled a total of 32,387 votes which is 61% while her opposition Conservative Party’s candidate Matthew Smith got 8,070 votes.

Rushnara Ali became the first Bangladeshi origin British to elect as a Member of Parliament from Labour Party with a majority on 6 May 2010.  She won from Bengali-dominated East London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow in 2010.

Rushanara Ali resigned from the Labour frontbench Education team in order to abstain on the Coalition government's House of Commons motion permitting military action in Iraq on 26 September 2014.

She has published articles on a variety of political issues in numerous national and local media including The Guardian, Prospect magazine and Progress magazine. Rushnara Ali has also appeared on Question Time Extra, BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and Thinking Allowed. She was listed by The Guardian as one of the most powerful Muslim women in Britain.

Tulip Rizawana Siddiq 

Labour Party candidate Tulip Rizwana Siddiq got 23,977 votes which is 44% while her Conservative Party-backed contender Simon Marcus polled 22,839 votes which is 42%.

Tiulip Siddiq is the daughter of Sheikh Rehana, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s younger sister and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman’s daughter. 

She is former councillor in Regent's Park and Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities in Camden Council. In May 2010, she became the first Bengali woman councillor in Camden Council. She became the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in the 2015 UK General Election.

Rupa Huq 

On the other hand, another Bangladeshi-born British Rupa Huq polled a total of 22,002 votes which is 43.2% while her closest contestant from Conservative Party Angie Bray got 21,728 votes which is 42.7%.

Other candidates of the constituency, Liberal Democrat’s Jon Ball bagged 3,106 votes and UKIP’s candidate Peter Florence got 1,926.

She stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate in the safe Conservative seat of Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire in UK general election 2005.

She became the Deputy Mayor of the London Borough of Ealing in 2010. In November 2013, Rupa was chosen by Labour for the Ealing Central and Acton constituency.

Rupa started her teaching career in 1998, when she moved to Manchester. From 1998 to 2004, she was a lecturer at the University of Manchester. Then she served as a senior lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at Kingston University in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She also teaches Media and Cultural Studies.

Rupa Huq has a column in Tribune, and regularly contributes to The Guardian, New Statesman, Progress magazine and The Times Higher Education Supplement.

A total of Eleven Bangladeshi origins including Rushnara Ali, Rupa Asha Haque and Tulip Rezwana Siddiq were running in the election from three major political parties.

The UK general election began at 7:00am (0600GMT) on Thursday. Exit polls released at 2100 GMT.

The final tally of seats will not become clear until Friday afternoon.