All politics is local

Does anyone else think this is a bit weird, even by byelection standards?

Five Labour councillors in Southall, west London, have defected to the Conservative Party.
The switch by Manjit Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Maninder Kaur Keith, Jarnail Singh Jandu and Jagdish Gupta comes before the Ealing Southall by-election.
Meanwhile, Kuldeep Singh Grewal, an independent candidate for the by-election, has urged his supporters to vote Labour instead on 19 July.
Another independent candidate - Golbash Singh - is now supporting the Tories.

The Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate is John Sydney Cartwright. He seems to be sticking to his guns. Although nobody seems to be switching to support him, either.