Mayor elections in London: Will Tarun Gulati be able to defeat Pakistani origin Sadiq Khan?

In England, polling places are now open for local elections, which are thought to be the last significant gauge of public sentiment before the general election. The post of Mayor of London is very important. All decisions related to the lifestyle of millions of people living in London are in the hands of the Mayor, hence this election is discussed all over the world.

There are a total of 13 candidates in this election. While Sadiq Khan is once again in the fray from the Labor Party, Susan Hall has been made the candidate from the Conservative Party. The main contest is said to be between these two. But in this mayor election, a candidate of Indian origin, Tarun Gulati, is also trying his luck. Tarun Gulati is an investment banker and businessman.

Khan has been the Mayor of London since 2016. Sadiq Khan is British of Pakistani origin. His father first went from Lucknow to Pakistan and then to England. Whereas Tarun Gulati's father was a senior official in the Government of India. Tarun Gulati was born in India. After spending 35 years in India, he went to England where he made his mark as an investment banker and businessman.

Elections like a match between India and Pakistan:

Due to the candidature of Sadiq Khan and Tarun Gulati, the London mayoral election is also being seen as a match between India and Pakistan. Although how many votes Tarun Gulati will get is a different matter, but he is claiming to be the most capable and experienced candidate. He expressed the need for improvements in everything from city planning to transportation system. This is on their agenda.

Efforts to go there are also being discussed:

Tarun Gulati talks a lot about being an Indian and expresses pride in being a Hindu. It is obvious that his eyes are on the votes of Londoners of Indian origin. There are about 60 lakh registered voters in London. Among these, the vote of people of Indian origin is only 5 percent. But Tarun Gulati feels that along with those of Indian origin, he will also get the votes of other Londoners. They call Sadiq Khan a complete failure on many fronts. They say that living in London has become very expensive. The crime rate has increased significantly. Traffic is a big problem and that is why Londoners will vote for him. He describes himself as a candidate standing for change in London.

On the other hand, Sadiq Khan has been elected mayor in 2016 and 2020. He is trying to be elected Mayor of London for the third time. He considers his work on air pollution in London as his achievement. Nature restoration and efforts to move towards net zero by 2030 are also being discussed in London. On the basis of environmental policies, he is said to be far ahead of Conservative Party candidate Susan Hall. The issue of making London clean and green is a very important election issue. In a survey conducted regarding the mayor elections, Sadiq Khan got the support of 47 percent people while Susan Hall got only 25 percent support.

This year, mayor elections in London are being conducted through the first past the post system. In this, voters vote for only one candidate and the one who gets the most votes wins. Earlier there was a supplementary voting system in which voters used to vote as their first and second choice. But if no one got 51 percent of the votes, then there was a contest between the two candidates getting the most votes. The one who got 51 percent votes won. This time the election process has been simplified by adopting first past the post.