Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi

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Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi (born 20 February 1964) is an Indian-born New Zealand politician who represented the National Party as a list MP from 2008 to 2020. He was born in Delhi, India, and studied commerce at the University of Delhi, graduating in 1985. After working in his family’s freight business, he moved to New Zealand in 2001 with his wife, Irvinder Kaur. Bakshi became New Zealand’s first Indian and first Sikh Member of Parliament.

Elected in 2008 by the party list, Bakshi did not win the Manukau East electorate but stood there again in 2011, 2014 and 2017, winning each time as a list MP. In Parliament, he served as Chair of the Law and Order Select Committee (2015–2017), was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Police, and was the National Party spokesperson for Internal Affairs (2017–2020) and Ethnic Communities (2020).

In early 2009 and again in August 2009, he was investigated by police and Immigration New Zealand over allegations of making false job offers to Indian entrants to New Zealand. He was cleared of wrongdoing. In June 2010, his Military Manoeuvres Act Repeal Bill was drawn from the member’s ballot and became law in April 2012. A second member’s bill to legalise kirpans for Sikhs was drafted but not drawn.

Bakshi accompanied Prime Minister John Key on a 2011 visit to India and helped promote NZ-India ties, including publishing government policies in Indian languages. He received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award in January 2015 for raising the profile of people of Indian origin in New Zealand and the South Pacific.

On social issues, Bakshi opposed the first reading of Louisa Wall’s same-sex marriage bill in 2012, later noting that many National MPs had voted for it. In 2016 he faced criticism for likening international students to consumer goods when asked about treating Indian students as “economic commodities.”

During his fourth term, Bakshi remained a National Party spokesperson for Internal Affairs (2017–2020) and Ethnic Communities (2020). He voted against the End of Life Choice Act 2019 and the Abortion Legislation Act 2020. In the 2020 election, he contested Panmure-Ōtāhuhu and lost to Labour’s Jenny Salesa by 18,626 votes. With National’s overall poor showing and his ranking on the party list, he did not return to Parliament.