Rising aspirations: Meet new Kiwi-Indian faces in upcoming local elections
The Kiwi-Indian community has something to cherish in this upcoming local body elections, with many new and familiar faces, from the community throwing their hats in the elections.
The number of new aspirants, though nowhere near to the actual proportion of the Kiwi-Indian population in the country, is still a welcome sign of growing interest in participating in local elections.
For long ethnic migrant communities are believed to be uninterested and non-participatory in the local governance, only for their own detriment.
This is opposed to the interest in parliamentary elections, where it has gradually increased in the past few years, with the growing size of the community and accompanied expanding ambitions of being seen, heard, and represented at the highest power corridors.
Currently, there are three Kiwi-Indian MPs in the New Zealand parliament, which amounts to 2.5 percent representation, as opposed to about 3.9 percent population share as per the last census of 2013.
However, the same cannot be said about the level of representation in the local government bodies, where the numbers have been pitifully few.
In this regard, any interest from new faces within the community of standing up for local elections is a much welcome development.
The Indian Weekender has spoken with some of the new aspirants to understand their background, interest, and motivation to stand in local body elections.
Reflecting the slice of the wider Kiwi-Indian community, the new aspirants, come from diverse backgrounds, such as first coming to this country as an international student, to being dedicated small business owners. They are also driven by a variety of motives such as social justice, environmental justice, community-cohesion, or having a history of politics in their respective families.
Like their different ethnicities, and countries of origin before immigrating to this country, the diversity in their motives in taking a plunge in politics in this election is worth knowing.
Murali Kumar
Murali Kumar – a recognisable face within the Indian community especially in his popular avatar of being an artist, performer, and ethnic cultural event producer – is standing as a candidate for the Henderson Massey Local Board under Labour in local body elections 2019.
In his other avatar, Murali works for Auckland Council as a Place Manager, developing and implementing community-based program initiatives and is a Justice for Peace.
He is further involved with advising and supporting a number of community organisations in Auckland. (Read more here)
Jitesh Ganatra
Jitesh Ganatra, currently deputy chair of the Kelston Electorate will be contesting in the Auckland local Elections getting his ticket from Communities and Residents (C&R) for Whau Local Board.
Jitesh comes from a political background with his father being actively involved in politics back in India in the early 1980s standing up for the Assembly elections and acting as a Political Advisor for BJP in Gujarat state. (Read more here)
Kharag Singh
Well known retailer and popular community leader Kharag Singh, who has lived in South Auckland for more than 30 years is committed to advocating for the wellbeing of youths, in particular, among other issues, prevalent in the area.
“I have lived over 30 odd years in South Auckland. I am fully aware of the growing issues of the local community. I am standing in the local elections with a desire to bring positive changes in the community and address the local issues people are going through, be it petty crimes in the region, traffic congestions, connectivity, housing etc.,” Mr Singh told The Indian Weekender.
Mr Singh, who is popularly known as “Sidhu” in the wider communities of South Auckland, has been a powerful voice for promoting inter-community harmony while dealing with complex issues of assaults and robberies of small business owners. (Read more here)
Narinder Warraich
Narinder Singh Warraich, the current Chairman of Multicultural Labour Canterbury, is standing for local board elections for Halswell Christchurch.
Speaking to The Indian Weekender about his motive behind throwing his name in the ring this year, Narinder said, “We need more diversity and not less in our councils and local boards. Especially after the recent Christchurch terror attack.”
“Christchurch has faced a lot in recent years, especially our ethnic communities. I was closely involved as a volunteer in the aftermath of the terror attack and was deeply affected with the pain that our communities have endured,” Narinder said. (Read more here)
Manish Pandey
Experiences of the garden city Christchurch have been instrumental in motivating a software professional to step up for local board elections.
Manish Pandey is standing for Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board Candidate to represent Riccarton under The People’s Choice banner (The People’s Choice is the local party of the Labour Party).
Mr Pandey believes that his life has been changed, irreversibly, after living in Christchurch and seeing this beautiful city coping with some of the gravest challenges that this country has experienced in the recent past. (Read more here)
The Kiwi-Indian community has something to cherish in this upcoming local body elections, with many new and familiar faces, from the community throwing their hats in the elections.
The number of new aspirants, though nowhere near to the actual proportion of the Kiwi-Indian population in the...
The Kiwi-Indian community has something to cherish in this upcoming local body elections, with many new and familiar faces, from the community throwing their hats in the elections.
The number of new aspirants, though nowhere near to the actual proportion of the Kiwi-Indian population in the country, is still a welcome sign of growing interest in participating in local elections.
For long ethnic migrant communities are believed to be uninterested and non-participatory in the local governance, only for their own detriment.
This is opposed to the interest in parliamentary elections, where it has gradually increased in the past few years, with the growing size of the community and accompanied expanding ambitions of being seen, heard, and represented at the highest power corridors.
Currently, there are three Kiwi-Indian MPs in the New Zealand parliament, which amounts to 2.5 percent representation, as opposed to about 3.9 percent population share as per the last census of 2013.
However, the same cannot be said about the level of representation in the local government bodies, where the numbers have been pitifully few.
In this regard, any interest from new faces within the community of standing up for local elections is a much welcome development.
The Indian Weekender has spoken with some of the new aspirants to understand their background, interest, and motivation to stand in local body elections.
Reflecting the slice of the wider Kiwi-Indian community, the new aspirants, come from diverse backgrounds, such as first coming to this country as an international student, to being dedicated small business owners. They are also driven by a variety of motives such as social justice, environmental justice, community-cohesion, or having a history of politics in their respective families.
Like their different ethnicities, and countries of origin before immigrating to this country, the diversity in their motives in taking a plunge in politics in this election is worth knowing.
Murali Kumar
Murali Kumar – a recognisable face within the Indian community especially in his popular avatar of being an artist, performer, and ethnic cultural event producer – is standing as a candidate for the Henderson Massey Local Board under Labour in local body elections 2019.
In his other avatar, Murali works for Auckland Council as a Place Manager, developing and implementing community-based program initiatives and is a Justice for Peace.
He is further involved with advising and supporting a number of community organisations in Auckland. (Read more here)
Jitesh Ganatra
Jitesh Ganatra, currently deputy chair of the Kelston Electorate will be contesting in the Auckland local Elections getting his ticket from Communities and Residents (C&R) for Whau Local Board.
Jitesh comes from a political background with his father being actively involved in politics back in India in the early 1980s standing up for the Assembly elections and acting as a Political Advisor for BJP in Gujarat state. (Read more here)
Kharag Singh
Well known retailer and popular community leader Kharag Singh, who has lived in South Auckland for more than 30 years is committed to advocating for the wellbeing of youths, in particular, among other issues, prevalent in the area.
“I have lived over 30 odd years in South Auckland. I am fully aware of the growing issues of the local community. I am standing in the local elections with a desire to bring positive changes in the community and address the local issues people are going through, be it petty crimes in the region, traffic congestions, connectivity, housing etc.,” Mr Singh told The Indian Weekender.
Mr Singh, who is popularly known as “Sidhu” in the wider communities of South Auckland, has been a powerful voice for promoting inter-community harmony while dealing with complex issues of assaults and robberies of small business owners. (Read more here)
Narinder Warraich
Narinder Singh Warraich, the current Chairman of Multicultural Labour Canterbury, is standing for local board elections for Halswell Christchurch.
Speaking to The Indian Weekender about his motive behind throwing his name in the ring this year, Narinder said, “We need more diversity and not less in our councils and local boards. Especially after the recent Christchurch terror attack.”
“Christchurch has faced a lot in recent years, especially our ethnic communities. I was closely involved as a volunteer in the aftermath of the terror attack and was deeply affected with the pain that our communities have endured,” Narinder said. (Read more here)
Manish Pandey
Experiences of the garden city Christchurch have been instrumental in motivating a software professional to step up for local board elections.
Manish Pandey is standing for Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board Candidate to represent Riccarton under The People’s Choice banner (The People’s Choice is the local party of the Labour Party).
Mr Pandey believes that his life has been changed, irreversibly, after living in Christchurch and seeing this beautiful city coping with some of the gravest challenges that this country has experienced in the recent past. (Read more here)
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