Rohit K Dasgupta

Dr Rohit K Dasgupta FHEA is an academic in the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University^[1] and a British Labour Party politician^[2]. In 2018 he was elected Councillor in the London Borough of Newham for the Canning Town South Ward^[3][4]. He contested the Parliamentary seat of East Hampshire for the Labour Party in 2017, coming second with an increase of 7% vote share.^[5]. He is also Secretary of the Newham Branch of the Fabian Society^[6].

Background

Dasgupta gained a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, India. Following this he did a MA in English from the University of Westminster, PGCert in Teaching and Learning from University of West London and a PhD from University of the Arts London.^[7].

Political career

He was elected as a Labour and Co-operative party Councillor in the London Borough of Newham for the Canning Town South Ward in the 2018 United Kingdom Local elections^[8][9][10]. He had previously contested the East Hampshire parliamentary seat in the General election, coming second with 17% of the vote share.^[11]. Dasgupta is also the Chair of his local Labour party branch^[12] and Secretary of the Newham Fabian Society^[13]. He was one of the first Bengalis from West Bengal, India to contest the British Parliamentary elections.^[14][15][16]. Dasgupta is also a member of BAME Labour, Labour Movement for Europe, Fabian Society, GMB and UCU. In 2018 he was elected on to the national committee of LGBT Labour^[17].

Academic Career

Dasgupta is a Programme Director and Lecturer at Loughborough University. He has previously worked at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton; University of the Arts London and University of Sussex . Dasgupta has authored and edited eight books on media and digital culture, sexuality, gender, sexual health, anthropology and activism.^[18] He has also written for The Independent on LGBTQ rights movement in the United Kingdom^[19] and for the Huffington Post on Brexit^[20][21]. He was recently involved in strike action due to the UCU pension dispute^[22].

Electoral history

2017 general election

General Election 2017: East Hampshire^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Damian Hinds	35,263	63.6	+3.0
	Labour	Rohit K Dasgupta	9,411	17.0	+6.9
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Robinson	8,403	15.2	+4.1
	Green	Richard Knight	1,760	3.2	-3.0
	JAC	Susan Jerrard	571	1.0	+1.0
Majority			25,852	46.6	-2.1
Turnout			55,567	75.6	+4.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.95

Writing

References