Shivani Raja, a first-time Member of the UK Parliament, has taken the oath on the Bhagavad Gita. The 29-year-old businesswoman of Gujarati descent is the newly elected MP from Leicester East.
Raja, who won the Leicester East seat for the Conservative Party, ending the Labour Party's 37-year control of the constituency, was sworn in as MP on Tuesday. A video of the oath ceremony showed her holding the Bhagavad Gita in her hand.
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"It was an honour to be sworn into Parliament today to represent Leicester East. I was truly proud to swear my allegiance to His Majesty King Charles on the Gita," she wrote on social media, while posting the video of the ceremony.
Raja's mother hails from Rajkot, and her father is a Gujarati who migrated to Leicester from Kenya in 1970. She was involved in her family's business before entering politics. She defeated Labour's Indian-origin candidate, Rajesh Agarwal, by a margin of 4,426 votes in the seat that has been the current ruling party's stronghold since 1987.
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She is one of the record 26 Indian-origin people who have entered the UK's House of Commons. This includes 19 MPs of Labour, the UK's new ruling party, out of which 12 have been elected for the first time.
In 2024, the UK has elected what is being described as the country's most diverse Parliament, with at least 87 ethnic minority candidates set to take their seats in the Commons.
The election results saw the Labour Party secure 412 seats out of 650, while the Conservative Party, led by Rishi Sunak, won 121 seats.
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