First Indian origin PM of UK a reality? Rishi Sunak wins first round of voting

London, Jul 14: Indian-origin and Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak emerged as the strongest contender to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and UK Prime Minister as he topped the ballot in the first round of voting. Six candidates have proceeded to second round.

 

 

 

 

Six candidates have proceeded to round two as newly appointed Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt were eliminated after they failed to enlist the required backing of 30 Tory lawmakers. Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, topped the first round with 88 votes, according to Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative Backbench 1922 Committee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other five survivors are International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt (67 votes), Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (50 votes), former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch (40 votes); Backbench lawmaker Tom Tugendhat (37 votes) and Attorney General Suella Braverman (32 votes). The second ballot is scheduled on Thursday (Jul 15) and the 1922 Committee aims to whittle down the field to two candidates in successive rounds of voting before the British parliamentarians break up for the summer recess on Jul 21.

 

 

The final two contenders will then go through a postal ballot of all the Conservative members, numbering around 200,000, over the summer and the winner will be announced on Sept 5, becoming the new Tory leader and the UK's next Prime Minister. Boris Johnson replaced Theresa May as prime minister in 2019 and announced on July 7 that he was stepping down as prime minister and leader of the UK Conservative Party.