Sadiq Khan, Tooting Bec MP has become Labour's candidate to stand for the London Mayoral elections in 2016

British Asian Sadiq Khan will contest for London Mayor's post as Labour candidate

Archana Venkatraman

British-born Labour MP for Tooting Sadiq Khan has been selected by Labour Party as its candidate for the London Mayoral election in 2016. The British Muslim MP Khan - born to Pakistani parents from a humble background – and his inclusive, universal political ideologies are likely to appeal to the new London which is more diverse, more multi-cultural, many think.

British Asian Sadiq Khan will contest for London Mayor's post in 2016 as Labour candidate

The 44-year-old Khan won 48,152 votes, a 58.9% share in the fifth round, beating frontrunner Tessa Jowell as well as other Labour candidates including Diane Abbott, David Lammy, Christian Wolmar and Gareth Thomas.

While the Tory party (Conservatives) are yet to officially pick their London Mayoral candidate, Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith is poised to be the Tory candidate. Sadiq Khan now seeks a mandate from five million Londoners who will decide the next London Mayor after Boris Johnson.

Among the top priorities for Londoners are transport fares, safer London, affordable housing, improved work and pay and equal opportunities. Sadiq Khan has pledged to freeze transport fares in London and address all the important issues that matter to Londoners.

It is thought that Sadiq's background – that of an inclusive British Muslim politician from a humble background – his father was a bus driver and mother, a seamstress.

Born and raised in Wandsworth, Sadiq was raised in a council estate in Earlsfield with six brothers and one sister, before they moved to a new family home in Tooting Bec. Today, he is the MP for Tooting – the London town with a large Asian population where his two daughters, born in Tooting's St George's Hospital, attend local state school. Sadiq studied in University of North London and went on to become a lawyer, an MP and eventually the first ever Muslim and first Asian to attend cabinet. He has represented the Tooting constituency since 2005.

After he was picked the Labour candidate to contest for the prestigious London Mayoral elections, Khan said he was "deeply honoured" and "overwhelmed".

Labour's backing for Sadiq Khan for the London Mayoral elections in 2016 is welcomed by many Londoners and influential commentators with mostly positive commentaries on social media sites including Twitter. Until the Mayoral elections next year, British Asian MP Sadiq Khan's life and political ideologies will be under public scrutiny.

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