A UNIVERSITY lecturer who says he is fed up with corrupt practices in politics is standing for election in Harrow East.

Abhijit Pandya, 30, has been selected as the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP) candidate hoping to unseat incumbent Labour MP Tony McNulty.

Announcing his candidacy, Mr Pandya, an international law tutor at the London School of Economics, pointed to the expenses scandal as a sign of the state of major political parties in Britain.

He said: “I am fed up with the way the three main parties have colluded in corrupt practices and exploitation of the taxpayer through rogue expenses claims.

“Harrow deserves better than this.”

Mr Pandya is chairman of the Birkenhead Society, an organisation which last year controversially paid for legal help for right wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders when he fought against his ban on visiting Britain.

Mr Wilders has made headlines across Europe, calling for a ban on the Burkha and likening the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf, and is currently standing trial in his homeland on charges of incitement and discrimination against Muslims.

However, Mr Pandya wrote in March last year about his organisation's support for Mr Wilders: “Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of democracy. However unpalatable someone's opinions may seem, to silence their voice in the market place of ideas is to deny us the ability to scrutinise, disagree and find the truth.”

Setting out some of his policies for the election campaign, Mr Pandya said if elected he would want to promote the business creditials of Harrow.

He said: “Harrow has fantastic links to international airports and central London, yet fewer and fewer businesses start here. This has to change.

“I want to work with local enterprise and increase it, to create a vibrant dynamic Harrow with new job opportunities.

“I think this is only possible with the low-tax enterprising schemes of UKIP.”

Mr Pandya will be on the Harrow East ballot alongside Mr McNulty, Tory Bob Blackman, Lib Dem Nahid Boethe, and Green Party candidate Sarah Kersey.