LABOUR man Mohammed Ali delivered a knockout punch to complete an election campaign four years in the making.
There was nothing ‘laboured’ about this hat-trick of victories chalked up by the men from the red corner, with sitting duo Tahir Aziz (1,106, four-year term) and Mohammad Raja (1,060, two-year term) following Ali (three years) into office.
While new Councillor Ali was away on business for the count, colleagues Cllr Raja and Cllr Aziz soaked up another successful campaign.
Tahir Aziz told the News & Mail: “We are very thankful to the residents for placing their trust in us. It was a very convincing win. We will be there day and night regarding the Sheerwater regeneration. We’d like to assure all resident we will be working for their issues, including green belt, future development and policing issues.”
Cllr Raja, who was the first Labour representative on the council for seven years, said: “We are very grateful for residents by showing their confidence in us. We want a balanced council.”
Mr Aziz added: “We will make the council accountable. Residents want to be represented by us; usual Conservative voters have lost confidence in the council.”
CANALSIDE RESULTS: ALI Mohammad (Labour): 1,071 AZIZ Tahir (Labour): 1,106 DAVIES Gareth (Liberal Democrat): 279 DYKES Topher (Green Party): 281 JOHNS Norman (Liberal Democrat): 230 MARCUS Paula (Conservative): 868 PROVOST Matthew (Conservative): 829 RAJA Mohammad (Labour): 1,060 ROE David (UKIP): 383 SCOTT Colin (Conservative): 807 SQUIRE Judith (UKIP): 332 WHALE Rebecca (Liberal Democrat): 300 *(8 rejected votes)