Ex-Edinburgh Rape Crisis boss Mridul Wadhwa makes MSP bid for Scottish Greens

A former head of Edinburgh Rape Crisis criticised in a damning report for a failure to “understand the limits of her authority” is making a bid for the Scottish Parliament.

Mridul Wadhwa was found to have “failed to set professional standards of behaviour” at the lifeline service in an independent probe, and is now named as one of the candidates seeking selection for the Scottish Greens ahead of next year’s Holyrood elections.

The party’s LGBT+ network, the Rainbow Greens, is backing Wadhwa for selection in the Edinburgh and Lothians East region, one of the new list seats created in the redrawing of boundaries.

The news follows confirmation from current Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone, who was elected as a Green MSP for the Lothians region before taking up the non-party role, that she will not stand again.

In a statement on social media, the Rainbow Greens said: “Mridul is a migrant, trans woman of colour, adoptive parent and carer. As an activist and having a professional background in equalities organisations, she hopes to bring this experience into parliament.”

Wadhwa previously sought to enter the Scottish Parliament in 2021, that time as an SNP candidate in Edinburgh Central or Stirling. Those contests were won by Angus Robertson and Evelyn Tweed respectively, and Wadhwa later left the SNP for the Greens after MSPs backed a law allowing rape survivors to choose the sex of the person examining them.

The Scottish Greens returned eight MSPs at the last election and aim to improve on that tally next year.

The party is currently awaiting a new leadership team after long-standing co-leader Patrick Harvie stood down from that job. He aims to contest the 2026 election in Glasgow once again, but faces competition from candidates including Iris Duane, another member of the Rainbow Greens.

Gillian Mackay has put herself forward to succeed Harvie at the top of the party, and current co-leader Lorna Slater will run again for that position.

While the Greens have sought a gender-balanced list of candidates in previous elections, returning a majority of women last time, they have axed the system in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling over the meaning of ‘sex’, ‘woman’ and ‘man’ under the Equality Act.

Men considering candidacy were asked to step aside to allow more chances for women, trans and non-binary candidates such as Wadhwa.

An independent report found that during Wadhwa’s tenure at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, the charity “did not put survivors first” and women-only services were not provided for a 16-month period.

The report was ordered after an employment tribunal found that counsellor Roz Adams, who raised concerns about single-sex service provision, had been unfairly dismissed from the centre, where Green MSP Maggie Chapman was also a board member.

Adams said women using the centre should be able to know the sex of the staff working with them and the tribunal heard that Wadhwa – who is now a director of Bathgate-based Vahanomy, a company working to accelerate the use of electric and AI vehicles – appeared to believe Adams held transphobic views.

The case followed earlier controversy about Wadhwa’s appointment, after it emerged that the long-term activist had not declared trans status when taking up the CEO job. Wadhwa also suggested that sexual violence survivors who had an issue over trans inclusion were “bigoted” and should “reframe their trauma”.

Wadhwa was contacted for comment.