Investment banker Tarun Ghulati announces London mayoral candidacy

Tarun Ghulati has lived in London for the past 20 years and is originally from India

Investment banker Tarun Ghulati has announced that he will stand in the 2024 London mayoral elections.

The independent candidate who has lived in London for 20 years said he decided to run in the election as Londoners want "something different".

He claimed the incumbent mayor had "bought London to a standstill" and if elected he would "transform" the roads in the capital.

The mayoral election will take place on 2 May.

The 63-year-old, from north London, told the BBC his main priority was to "get London moving again" which he would do by abolishing the entirety of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez).

Along with scrapping the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez), he would also remove the congestion charge on weekends and holidays and launch a review into 20mph speed limit zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs).

The mayoral candidates for the Conservative Party and Reform UK as well as other independent candidates have also said they will reverse the expansion of Ulez if elected.

His other priorities include increasing police presence on the street and building more police stations in areas where there is a high crime rate.

Who are the mayoral candidates?

Seven other people have been chosen as candidates for the London mayoral elections. They are:

• Rob Blackie, Liberal Democrats

• Natalie Campbell, independent

• Howard Cox, independent

• Zoe Garbett, Green Party

• Susan Hall, Conservative Party

• Sadiq Khan, Labour Party

• Andreas Michli, independent

The businessman, who was born and grew up in India told the BBC that "London can be a lonely place to live", so if elected he would create more community cohesion, as he was concerned many "communities are isolated and people don't feel a sense of belonging".

He added that he had his own "levelling up agenda" for the capital and if elected wants to "focus on improving living standards for those in poverty" as well as ensure London is more "digitally connected".

Tarun hopes people will vote for him as he says he is a "catalyst for positive change".

"People want someone different to run London and I'm different because I'm not a politician," he told the BBC.

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