LONDON: A series of local election victories by the UK’s opposition Labour Party has been overshadowed by a major fall in support among Muslim voters, leading to concern within the party ahead of a general election later this year.

After local elections were held across the country on Thursday, Labour suffered key losses in areas with high Muslim populations due to controversies over the party’s stance on the Gaza war.

Labour must do some “searching” in response to “questions” over its performance, one MP said.

The potential loss of Labour candidate Richard Parker in the West Midlands mayoralty election led to a racism row after an unnamed party source blamed “the Middle East” on deciding the race.

In total, the party gained more than 140 council seats during the elections, The Guardian reported.

But those gains are overshadowed by the potential West Midlands defeat and the Conservative candidate for mayor of London, Susan Hall, running a closer race against incumbent Sadiq Khan than previously expected.

Labour have “trouble brewing on their left flank” after focusing on traditionally rural and whiter areas, said Rob Ford, a politics professor at the University of Manchester.

“There has been a substantial loss of support in heavily Muslim areas and they are going backwards a bit in progressive areas and areas with students. It is progress at a price,” he added.

By offsetting urban losses with gains among rural voters, Labour would win about 34 percent of votes at a general election compared to 25 percent for the Conservatives, the BBC reported.

Yet fear of bleeding urban voters, including Muslims, is driving anxiety in the party ahead of the general election, sources told The Guardian.

“The polls (which predicted a 20-point lead for Khan) were completely wrong, this is going to be much closer than expected,” one source said.

A source in Birmingham, where independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob stood as a spoiler to Labour, said: “Yakoob is picking up over 50 percent in some inner-city wards, so the Gaza impact may be bigger than first estimated.”

Labour also suffered a shock loss in Oldham, losing control of the council after a number of seats were taken by pro-Palestinian independent candidates.

In Manchester, the party lost its deputy leader to a candidate from MP George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain.

Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, told the “Electoral Dysfunction” podcast in the wake of the vote that the party will have to “wake up and face” the issues that led to losses against independent and Workers Party of Britain candidates.

“I very much expect, as the mayoral votes come in, that in places like Birmingham, Bradford, places with high Muslim populations, as we’ve seen overnight in Oldham, that the Labour Party will have some questions that they have, and some searching to do themselves,” she added, according to Sky News.

Areas with a proportion of Muslim voters higher than 20 percent recorded average losses of 17.9 points for Labour.

The comments by a party source concerning the West Midlands race have led to a post-election race row.

“It’s the Middle East, not West Midlands that will have won (Conservative Mayor Andy) Street the mayoralty. Once again Hamas are the real villains,” the Labour source reportedly told the BBC.

The remarks were condemned by figures including Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Daily Telegraph reported.

“This is a disgusting way to talk about Muslim voters, conflating them with Hamas and treating them as a monolith,” she said. “It reeks of racism and entitlement. Such comments should have no place in the Labour Party.”

According to The Times, MP Zarah Sultana said: “Once again, I’m deeply disturbed by Islamophobic quotes given to the media by ‘Labour sources.’

"When politicians are confronted with racist bile, it should be immediately condemned. As a party we need to listen to and acknowledge concerns, not hold British Muslims in contempt.”

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, conceded that the party’s stance on a Gaza ceasefire was “partly” a factor in the surprise defeats.

“Many people feel really strongly about this — and rightly, because tens of thousands of people have been killed, including the majority of them women and children,” she said.

Muslim vote organizers hailed the success of the elections in sending a message to Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Party sources warned that Labour must work overtime to regain the trust of Muslim voters ahead of a general election expected later this year.

“People use local elections to send the government — and sometimes the opposition — a message,” a senior Labour source told The Times.

“The damage is done and even though our position is much better now, if Israel pushes into Rafah people will say we didn’t do enough to urge restraint right at the start.”

A Labour MP added: “It’s terminal with a lot of people, and it’s not just Muslims. On our doorknocks, we’ve had a lot of middle-class white voters raise it as well.”

NEW DELHI: Every election in India leaves a mark on its people, not only in political terms, but also literally, in the form of purple stains on their index fingers.

As voters register in booths and have their ID verified to cast ballots, election officers paint a streak of ink across the top of their left index finger, leaving a dark purple stain that usually stays on the skin for more than two weeks.

The exercise started in 1962, during India’s third general election, to prevent fraud and duplicate votes, after the country’s first two polls were marred by complaints of voter impersonation.

One manufacturer was chosen to supply the ink and, as the country’s 18th parliamentary vote is underway, it is still the same one: Mysore Paints and Varnish, from Mysore city in the southern state of Karnataka.

The company was founded in 1937 by the then ruler of Mysore, Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, and became a public sector company after India gained independence from British rule in 1947.

Operated by the Karnataka state government, it is the only company authorized to produce the voter ink.

“From 1962, we have been the exclusive supplier of ink to the election commission of India,” K. Mohammed Irfan, the company’s managing director, told Arab News.

“At that time, Sukumar Sen was the chief election commissioner, and the inventor of the ink is by the name of Dr. Mathur.”

The inventor worked at the National Physical Laboratory, one of India’s earliest national laboratories, and the manufacturing process is based on a guarded chemical formula that has never changed.

“This ink cannot be erased easily,” Irfan said. “It is made of silver nitrate. Once the ink comes into the light it forms bluish and brownish stains, which remain from three days to more than one month.”

More than 968 million people are registered to vote in the world’s biggest election, which started on April 19 and will run in six phases until June 1. The Election Commission has ordered hectoliters of the indelible ink as part of the process.

“For this parliamentary election, we have taken around 80 days to manufacture 2.65 million bottles of ink,” Irfan said, adding that each vial is 10 ml.

“The total cost of manufacturing is 55 crore rupees ($6.6 million).”

Inked fingers are flashed by all those who cast their vote — from Bollywood stars and politicians to common citizens who take pride in being part of elections, which the Indian government usually refer to as “the festival of democracy.”

Shashank Aggarwal, 19, a first-time voter from Noida city, went to the polls on April 26 in the second phase of the vote.

“When the ink got marked on the finger, I felt that I had become part of the festival,” he said. “It felt nice.”

Kapil Sharma, who also voted last week, said that the purple pigment was still clear on his skin.

“The mark is still fresh and has not disappeared,” he said. “I proudly display my inked finger. I don’t mind if it sticks with me for the next five years. It’s a symbol and color of our democracy.”