Tears of joy as first ever Muslim Bangladeshi woman elected in Worthing

Labour’s Henna Chowdhury won a seat in the Worthing Borough Council election today after receiving a remarkable 1,213 votes.

She was reduced to tears as the results were announced at the Assembly Hall and her Gaisford ward supporters screamed with joy.

Speaking exclusively to the Herald after the result, she said: “I am really overwhelmed. I never thought as the first Asian Bangladeshi woman and a muslim person to get into Gaisford and break their record.

“I never thought I would do it. I was told I was against a very strong candidate, people have given me so much negativity, but hey, look, there is a lot of positive people out there who have shown their love and respect for me as who I am, and I am here to help support those individuals.”

Henna thanked residents for taking the time to vote for her yesterday (May 2).

She said: “Those people have given me the time and effort to come out in the morning, before work, lunch time, in the evening, even at five to ten – they came out to vote.

“I stood there 15 hours and I didn’t go. Everyone left, but I was there, until the door closed. because I didn’t want any members coming to the polling station and seeing there was no-one standing there.

“Now I am in, I will show them that what they believed and trusted in me, I will deliver that.”

Labour has followed up last year’s historic performance by taking another five seats from the Tories.

As well as Gaisford, it took Broadwater, Heene, Selden, and Central.

Labour now has ten councillors compared to 22 for the Conservatives, three Lib Dems, one UKIP and one independent.