Three politicians of Indian heritage have been elected to New Zealand’s newly elected parliament in the country’s general election which hasn’t given a clear mandate to any party, setting up nationalist New Zealand First party to hold the balance of power.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Dr Paramjeet Parmar and Priyanca Radhakrishnan are the Indian-origin MPs to have been elected to the 121-member parliament house. While Mr Bakshi and Dr Paramar will commence their fourth and second term respectively as the Nationals parliamentarians, Ms Radhakrishnan is making her parliamentary debut for the Labor Party. 
Mumbai-born Mahesh Bindra, another Indian-origin politician who was a member parliament of the New Zealand First Party, will not get to sit in the house as his party did not get enough votes this time.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi Source: Supplied
Delhi-born Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi migrated to New Zealand in 2001 and has been a parliamentarian since 2008. He contested Manukau East constituency in Auckland.
A PhD in Biological Sciences, Dr Parmar migrated to New Zealand from India in 1995. She contested from Mt Roskill, Auckland.
Priyanca Radhakrishnan, born in Kerala in India, grew up in Singapore before migrating to New Zealand. She contested the seat of Maungakiekie, Auckland.
National and Labour had been almost neck and neck in opinion polls, with charismatic 37-year-old Labour leader, Jacinda Ardern almost single-handedly dragging her party back into the race after taking over the party's leadership in August.
Paramjeet Parmar Source: Supplied
Priyanca Radhakrishnan Source: Supplied
National took 46 per cent of the vote, the Electoral Commission said, while support for Labour was 35.8 per cent. The results set up the nationalist New Zealand First Party to hold the balance of power and form the next government with 7.5 per cent of the ballot.
Veteran New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has been a minister under both major parties and has not said which party he would favour as a coalition partner. Previously he has backed the party with the largest number of votes.
All party leaders said they would have conversations over the next few days, with some of them already trying to woo Peters on election night.
"I want to acknowledge the strong performance of Winston Peters and New Zealand First," Bill English said in a speech to his supporters.
A final tally including overseas votes will be released on October 7.
