LONDON, March 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Muslim and Jewish voters are fighting it out over the "safe" London Labor parliamentary seat of Ilford South.
The struggle between the two groups has raised hopes among the Britain's Muslim population that they will soon see the first Hindu Member of Parliament.
The Association of Ilford Muslims is urging all Muslims who have traditionally voted for Labor to switch sides and vote for Tory Candidate Suresh Kumar, a Hindu. The reason being that incumbent candidate, Mike Gapes, of Labor Party Ilford South is known for his strong pro-Israeli stance.
The Association of Ilford Muslims has distributed thousands of leaflets describing Gapes as unrepresentative of the community he wishes to represent and also mentions his support for the British government's recently implemented Terrorist Act which proposes to ban 19 Islamic groups from operating or collecting funds in the U.K.
Those banned include Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah.
The pamphlets also cite Gapes' active role in supporting Israel as a deputy chairman of Labor Friends of Israel.
The Ilford South constituency has 75,000 voters of Asian origin, including Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. The total Jewish vote numbers about 3500. If the Muslim campaign succeeds, Suresh Kumar might win with an overwhelming majority.
Inayat Bunglawala, secretary of the Association of Ilford Muslims said of Gapes: "He has taken the Muslim vote for granted for eight years. All we are asking is that Muslims examine what he has been saying before deciding to vote for him."
Gapes, however said that the Association represents a "very small number of extremists who do not represent most reasonable Muslims in Ilford."
