LONDON: British-Indian dental surgeon Vinay Raniga has been chosen as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon, a constituency in the South East region of England.
As a National Health Service (NHS) dentist, Raniga serves his local community by treating their oral disease and by educating them in prevention.
"Public service is an honour and a serious responsibility. I deliver for my NHS patients; now it's time to deliver for Oxford West & Abingdon, " Raniga said, making the announcement on X last week.
"I am honoured to be trusted by local residents to fight for the place I live, work and studied in. I look forward to meeting, listening to and serving many more of you, " he added.
A year after graduating from Barts and the London School of Dentistry in 2018, he worked as a junior head and neck surgeon at Northwick Park Hospital in London.
Halfway through this role, he was redeployed to the Intensive Care Unit due during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a public policy and government affairs consultant for Mydentist -- the largest dental provider of NHS dentistry in the UK -- Raniga's responsibility has been to devise policies to improve access to dental care across the country.
"Congratulations to Dr Vinay Raniga on his selection as our new Parliamentary Candidate for Oxford West & Abingdon. Vinay is a great local campaigner and will work hard to hold the Lib Dems (Liberal Democrats) to account over their failure to deliver for local residents, " the Oxfordshire Conservatives wrote on X.
The Oxford West and Abingdon seat is currently been held by Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat, since June 2017.
The constituency includes Abingdon town, village of Kidlington, and the western and northern parts of the city of Oxford, and some of the colleges of the University of Oxford.