A viral campaign video has helped a politician garner votes and win his seat in the local election.
Tiger Patel, whose real name is Altaf, won his seat as the Conservative candidate for the Audley and Queen’s Park ward – beating the Labour incumbent Maryam Batan by 1,209 votes to 1,096.
He released his latest video on WhatsApp this week before it was shared widely online on social media.
The clip shows Patel walking through a children's playground and giving peace signs standing behind X-rated graffiti.
Responding to his win in the poll, Patel tweeted: “THANK YOU, Great People of Audley & Queen’s Park!
“I will be Councillor for all! Thank you, thank you!”
"At the end of the day, when Tiger did the video, he didn’t notice the fruity graffiti, but that says it all for us,” Julian Arnold, chairman of the Blackburn Conservative Association, told the PA news agency.
“That’s what’s happening: these community facilities are being vandalised, are being wrecked, and the graffiti says it all – little kids play on there.”
Patel, who claims that people call him ‘BoJo of Blackburn’, previously ran as an independent candidate but was moved to run as a Conservative this time after watching Boris Johnson's speeches.
“I’m inspired by Boris Johnson,” he said.
“He’s popular, and I’m also popular in Blackburn.
“Somebody said I was the BoJo of Blackburn.”
Arnold credited Patel's ability to connect with his electorate through videos and said, “It’s a masterful stroke...he’s actually a local politician we see doing something.”
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