Three outlets counted 15 or 16 British Columbia election winners as Indo-Canadian, Punjabi-origin or South Asian after the Oct. 24 vote, while Elections BC’s preliminary records do not classify candidates by ethnicity.
Hindustan Times reported 15 Indo-Canadians elected, including 11 Conservatives and four BC New Democratic Party members. The Indian Express also counted 15, using the label Punjabi-origin, but split them between 12 Conservatives and three New Democrats. Indo-Canadian Voice reported 16 South Asian members: 12 Conservatives and four NDP members.
The reports use three labels, so their totals do not amount to a single official demographic count. Their party splits differ as well.
Both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express placed the previous high at 14 in 2024. Indo-Canadian Voice included Ravi Parmar and Zeeshan Wahla in its list of 16; Elections BC’s preliminary candidate results showed both leading in their ridings. The agency’s table lists candidates, parties and vote totals without recording ethnicity.
An Elections BC update dated Oct. 25 had returns from 99.96% of ballot boxes. At that point, Conservative candidates led in 63 ridings, the BC NDP in 28 and the BC Green Party in two. Global News projected 64 Conservative seats, a forecast that uses a different measure from Elections BC’s riding leads. The legislature has 93 elected members, one for each constituency. EconoTimes had previewed the Oct. 24 election before polls closed.
Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census counted 473,965 South Asian residents in British Columbia, or 9.6% of the provincial population. That census category differs from the Indo-Canadian and Punjabi-origin descriptions used by two of the outlets. It counts residents rather than elected officials, so it cannot verify an MLA tally.
Elections BC said election-night figures remained preliminary. The agency scheduled its final count for Nov. 6-10.
