A mother-of-two is hoping to become the first Asian woman to be elected on to Bradford Council.

Kaneez Akthar is one of three Liberal Democrat candidates standing for Keighley Central Ward at this year's local elections on June 10.

The 36-year-old is a self-employed project consultant who is currently lending her housing expertise to the Manningham Housing Association on a project in Highfield.

She is a committee member at Keighley's Asian Women and Children's Centre and the Key House Project, and is also a director of Bradford Community Housing Trust.

Mrs Akthar is the first Asian woman to stand in Keighley, and she will be one of the very few Muslim women standing for councils anywhere in the country.

She said: "I'm quite surprised by that fact actually. I just hope that by standing I might give others that little push to do the same.

"I'm very excited. Things are going extremely well for me in terms of support. I'm very surprised. The other day I was asked by someone whether I was 100 per cent sure I would be elected.

"All I could say was that I can guarantee I'm 100 per cent sure of my enthusiasm and motivation for the job."

Mrs Akthar grew up in Keighley and was educated at Greenhead High School. She now lives in Lawkholme with her husband and children. She said: "You tend to find that the process is such that your election is based on who you know.

"As a minority of a minority, that makes me extremely nervous. I don't want to be elected because so and so knows me.

"I want to be elected for the skills and experience I can bring to the post."

If elected, Mrs Akhtar will focus her efforts on improving cleanliness, tackling the drug problem and lobbying for a more culturally balanced mix of children in schools.

Mrs Akthar has been selected alongside Javed Bashir and Chris Brown for Keighley Central.

Mr Bashir, who lives with his family in Highfield, is the project manager for the Parental Education Network.

He worked for Bradford Council setting up the neighbourhood initiative and on the issue of under-representation of black and Asian governors on the school governing bodies.

Mr Brown was leader of Maidstone Borough Council and a member of Kent County Council. He is chairman of Oxenhope Parish Council and leads the bid to run the recreation facilities in the parish.

He works as a researcher for museums and in his spare time sings with the Silsden Singers and organises the annual West Yorkshire Sacred Harp Sing, in Haworth.