There were tears at a meeting of Croydon’s Labour group just before Easter when it was announced that Chrisni Reshakaron, a councillor for West Thornton ward and tipped by some to be a future leader of the party locally, would no longer be standing as a candidate for the party at the local elections on May 7.
The official reason given has been that Reshekaron has stood down due to family commitments, to care for her father.
Late withdrawal: Chrisni Reshakaron is not on the ballot paper
But Inside Croydon can reveal that, according to senior sources within the local party, Reshakaron was in fact forced to stand down by officials at Labour’s London region, after a formal complaint about the councillor’s conduct was upheld against her.
Reshakaron is not the only local election candidate to be dropped at late notice, Inside Croydon can reveal. Marley “Maz” King, a Green Party parliamentary candidate in 2024, has been pulled from their roster for the Town Hall elections just this week.
In Reshkaron’s case, no further information about the complaint against her, or the circumstances of her withdrawal, have been forthcoming. Reshakaron, who is (for now at least), Labour’s shadow cabinet member for homes, has not responded to Inside Croydon’s calls.
“Chrisni was told to go quietly, or the Labour Party would go public with the complaint and their findings,” a Croydon Labour source said.
With the elections just a month away, Reshakaron’s withdrawal comes as a double blow to Croydon Labour’s campaign, as the first-term councillor, described by party colleagues as “thrustingly ambitious”, was also supposed to be working as the election agent for the party’s 70 ward councillor candidates.
Reshakaron is a charity worker who has previously been employed in a solicitor’s practice.
She was elected to the council in 2022, and is a ward colleague of Town Hall opposition leader Stuart King. In 2024, she was parliamentary candidate at the General Election in Sutton and Cheam, where she finished third, but increased Labour’s vote share.
Then there were five…: three of Stuart King’s shadow cabinet won’t be standing for re-election, but only one is standing down of his own accord. Shadow cabinet members receive close to £18,000 in council allowances each year
Reshakaron was fast-tracked into a front-bench role soon after being elected. But she is the third member of King’s eight-strong shadow cabinet who won’t be contesting the elections on May 7 – and only one of those, Callton Young, is going of his own accord. Enid Mollyneaux was blocked from standing again by party bosses at London region, similarly to Reshakaron
Late stand-in: Rym Daoud
The election vacancy created by Reshakaron’s 11th-hour withdrawal is being taken by Rym Daoud, a part-time caseworker in the office of Croydon West MP Sarah Jones.
“It all seems a bit convenient,” said one party cynic.
It is not known if Daoud was approved as a local election candidate in the original round of candidate selections held last year, nor whether she was selected by local ward members.
As far as the important organisational work as agent for the borough’s council candidates, that responsibility has been passed to Ben Taylor, a loyal Labour activist living in Coulsdon who has never managed to win an election, and who in 2022 managed to deliver Croydon Labour’s worst-ever election result.
The Green Party was also forced into a last-minute scramble to replace a candidate before the declaration deadline yesterday, as Marz King was dropped as one of their three candidates in South Norwood, one of the target wards for Zack Polanski’s party.
Green days: Marz King was a central part to the Greens’ campaign in South Norwood until very recently
It is not the first time that Marley King has been a late withdrawal as a candidate for elections in Croydon. In 2024, she was the Greens’ parliamentary candidate for Croydon West at the General Election, but withdrew one month before polling day.
King has been described as being a mother of children with complex social needs. In 2024, King announced on her own social media, “It is because of the love for my children I have decided to step down as a candidate. We find ourselves at very important transitions in their lives where they need my full attention, support and love.”
There has been nothing quite so conciliatory on this occasion from King, who says she is consulting lawyers over claims that she has suffered discrimination at the hands of the Green Party and a “rich white man”.
Croydon Green Party officials refused to comment on King’s case, beyond confirming that a decision was taken by the local party executive.
The Green candidates in South Norwood ward are now Ruben Sagar, Tracey Hague and Martyn Post.
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