With Indians emerging as the largest chunk of the foreign born electorates, records claim that voters from the Indian diaspora will be a principal deciding factor in the upcoming UK general election in May. As many as 615,000 Indians will vote in the upcoming elections on 7 May. The second largest chunk of foreign voters will be Pakistanis- 431,000.
UK residents born in Commonwealth countries comprise the largest numbers of potential migrant voters in England and Wales. Five of the top six countries from which migrant voters in UK general elections originate are all Commonwealth members: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh (potential 183,000 voters), Nigeria (182,000), and South Africa (168,000), while the sixth is the Irish Republic (297,000), whose citizens enjoy similar rights to those of Commonwealth members. It is estimated that the total population of UK voters born in Indian subcontinent, has risen over 1.2mn according to the 2011 census, and projected to rise over 1.7 mn in the near future.
While commonwealth citizens are allowed to vote for UK general elections, European Union nationals, despite their large and growing presence in the UK, will be heavily under-represented in May 2015 elections, as a large majority have not yet acquired British citizenship.
Reports suggest almost 4 million voters — about one in 10 of the entire electorate in England and Wales — have been found to be born abroad. The migrant electorate is heavily concentrated in London — 19 of the 20 seats with the largest migrant voter shares are in Greater London. Migrants would constitute over a third of the electorate in around 25 seats across England and Wales in 2015 and at least a quarter of the electorate in over 50 seats. The migrant electorate could have decisive power in at least 70 seats in 2015.
Asian Voice this week has published an extensive list of prospective parliamentary candidates of South Asian origin along with the current serving MPs of the same background on page 16-17.
It is estimated that populations of 100,000 migrants or more originating from 23 different countries now live in Britain. Analysis of data from the 2001 and 2011 Censuses suggests that up to 2.8 million British citizens born abroad will be eligible to vote in the next general election.
