WITH Harwinder Sandhu’s win in Vernon-Monashee after the final count of votes in the general election on Sunday, there will be a record number of nine South Asian MLAs.
The NDP picked up an extra two seats – Vernon-Monashee and Abbotsford-Mission – and will have 57 seats in the B.C. Legislature. The BC Liberals have 28 seats and the BC Greens have 2 seats.
The writs of election will be returned the week of November 16 in every electoral district except West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, which is subject to an automatic judicial recount.
Sandhu, a well-known community activist and nurse at Vernon Jubilee Hospital, has worked in healthcare for over 15 years. Raised on a farm, she was able to begin nursing with the support of her parents.
| Vernon-Monashee | ||||
| Kyle Delfing | Conservative | 3,472 | 12.42% | |
| Eric Foster | BC Liberal Party | 9,798 | 35.05% | |
| Harwinder Sandhu | BC NDP | 10,222 | 36.56% | |
| Keli Westgate | BC Green Party | 4,464 | 15.97% | |
| 27,956 | 100% |
Back in 2001, when the BC Liberals under Gordon Campbell almost wiped out the NDP, there were eight South Asian MLAs – all from the BC Liberal Party.
Besides Sandhu, the new MLAs are re-elected Raj Chouhan (Burnaby-Edmonds), re-elected Ravi Kahlon (Delta North), newly elected Aman Singh (Richmond-Queensborough), re-elected Jagrup Brar (Surrey-Fleetwood), re-elected Rachna Singh (Surrey-Green Timbers), re-elected Harry Bains (Surrey-Newton), re-elected Jinny Sims (Surrey-Newton), and newly elected Niki Sharma (Vancouver-Hastings):
* Burnaby-Edmonds
Raj Chouhan: NDP / 11,063 / 62.01%
Tripat Atwal : BC Liberal Party / 4,754 / 26.65%
* Delta North
Ravi Kahlon: NDP / 12,215 / 56.78%
Jet Sunner: BC Liberal Party / 7,179 / 33.37%
* Richmond-Queensborough
Aman Singh : BC NDP / 9,406 / 47.65%
Jas Johal: BC Liberal Party / 7,728 / 39.15%
* Surrey-Fleetwood
Jagrup Brar: NDP / 11,457 / 60.93%
Garry Thind: BC Liberal Party / 5,776 / 30.72%
* Surrey-Green Timbers
Rachna Singh: NDP / 8,171 / 59.59%
Dilraj Atwal: BC Liberal Party / 5,540 / 40.41%
* Surrey-Newton
Harry Bains: NDP / 8,893 / 62.64%
Paul Boparai: BC Liberal Party / 3,911 / 27.55%
* Surrey-Panorama
* Jinny Sims: NDP / 12,336 / 55.07%
* Gulzar Cheema: BC Liberal Party / 9,607 / 42.89%
* Vancouver-Hastings
Niki Sharma : NDP / 13,362 / 60.56%
Bridget Burns: BC Green Party / 4,312 / 19.54%
South Asian candidates who lost from the NDP and the BC Liberal Party and who have not been mentioned above included Inder Johal (NDP) in Abbotsford South; Preet Rai (NDP) in Abbotsford West;Tariq Malik (BC Liberal Party) in Burnaby-Lougheed; Rishi Sharma (BC Liberal Party) in Saanich South; Dave Hans (BC Liberal Party) in Surrey-Guildford; Shaukat Khan (BC Liberal Party) in Surrey-Whalley; and David Grewal (BC Liberal Party) in Vancouver-Fraserview.
