Leicester: Former Labour lord mayor defects to the Conservatives

Rashmikant Joshi served as lord mayor in 2017 and 2018

A former Leicester lord mayor and current city councillor has defected to the Conservatives after being deselected by Labour.

Rashmikant Joshi, who has represented Labour for the past 18 years, will run as a Tory candidate in the local elections on 4 May.

He was one of the 19 sitting Labour councillors who have been deselected by the party ahead of the poll.

The local Labour Party group declined to comment.

Mr Joshi's decision comes after Paul Westley and Hemant Rae Bhatia, who represent Beaumont Leys and were also deselected by Labour, defected to the Tories.

He said the Conservatives were the only party that could "bring democracy back to the city".

Mr Joshi told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "The Conservative manifesto for Leicester is an excellent example of how we can put local people first, we can divert funds from the city centre to local communities and we can bring jobs back to Leicester.

"I believe the Conservatives have the best programme for Leicester and I am proud to be a member of this local party. It's time for change in Leicester."

Every seat on the Labour-run authority will be up for election in May.

Voters must now show an accepted form of photographic ID at the polling station in order to vote.

The deselected Leicester Labour councillors:

Ruma Ali - Humberstone and Hamilton

Padmini Chamund - Belgrave

Luis Fonseca - North Evington

Stephan Gee - Thurncourt

Rashmikant Joshi - North Evington

Shahid Khan - Evington

Patrick Kitterick - Castle

Kirk Master - Stoneygate

Jacky Nangreave - Westcote

Rita Patel - Rushey Mead

Hemant Rae Bhatia - Beaumont Leys

Sharmen Rahman - Stoneygate

Gurinder Singh Sandhu - Humberstone and Hamilton

Deborah Sangster - Castle

Nita Solanki - Belgrave

Aminur Thalukdar - Stoneygate

Mahendra Valand - Belgrave

Paul Westley - Beaumont Leys

Ross Willmott - Rushey Mead