Toronto's Tamil community remains one of the largest in the city without one of its members on city council, but that could change in the next municipal election.

Neethan Shan is one of three Tamil candidates seeking a seat on Toronto city council. Neethan Shan, one of three Tamils running for the council seat in Ward 42 (Scarborough-Rouge River), says the way Tamils in Toronto think about politics has changed in the past year.

"Definitely the political awareness has been increased because of the activism that's happened in the last year, but a lot of time the organizing in the Tamil community has been around federal issues," Shan said during an interview in the food court at Malvern Town Centre in the heart of Scarborough.

Shan, who made an unsuccessful bid as a New Democratic Party candidate in Scarborough-Guildwood in the 2007 provincial election, says attention is now focused on municipal issues, and the Tamil community wants one of its own on council.

The push is evident in Ward 42, where Tamils make up nearly 20 per cent of the population.

Voters such as Abdeel Shaeed are excited by the prospect.

"A good majority of people living around here are South Asian," he said, "so a representative would be perfect."

But Cho and the other candidates in the ward are facing a steep challenge in incumbent Raymond Cho, the five-term councillor who garnered 52 per cent of the vote in the last election.

"I don't want to sound arrogant, but I expect a big majority," Cho told CBC News.

With files from Jamie Strashin