Tory councillor confirmed as Leicester mayoral candidate

Sanjay Modhwadia is one of two Conservative councillors in Leicester City Council

Leicester's Conservative Party has chosen its mayoral candidate ahead of May's election.

Sanjay Modhwadia, a city councillor for North Evington, will challenge Sir Peter Soulsby, who has held the role since it was created 12 years ago.

Last month Rita Patel, a former Labour councillor, launched her campaign for the job, saying she would scrap the position.

Leicester's Conservatives have also pledged to remove the role.

Mr Modhwadia was elected to represent his ward after a by-election result saw the Conservatives take their second of the 54 seats on the council, with the Labour candidate finishing behind the Green Party in third.

While the Tories and Ms Patel have both said they want to get rid of the mayoral role, Leicester's Green Party has promised a public referendum on the matter.

The Greens have confirmed Mags Lewis - who also stood in 2019, finishing third - will be their candidate.

Sir Peter Soulsby has held the post of elected mayor since 2011

Ms Patel will run on 4 May as an independent candidate, after becoming one of four councillors suspended for six months for their attempt to scrap the mayor's office through a vote at a council meeting.

She was then one of 19 councillors told by Labour they would not be able to defend their seat.

Sir Peter has previously said reverting to a system where councillors choose who heads the authority would an undemocratic step, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

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