Indian Americans lead in NYC council elections

New York: A few Indian Americans are leading in the Democratic primary election for New York City Council, triggering hopes of the community being represented in the council for the first time.
Meanwhile, Dr. Devi Nambiaparambil, a physician and media personality, has won unopposed the Republican ticket for New York City public advocate. She will face former City Councilman Jumane James in the November general election.
In the Democratic primary for city mayor, former police captain and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is leading with 253,234 votes (31.7 %). Attorney Maya Wiley, who was endorsed by progressive Congresswoman AOC, is in second place with 177,722 votes (22.3 %) Kathryn Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner, who was endorsed by New York Times and Daily News, got 155,812 votes (19.5%).
Former frontrunner Andrew Yang, who got 93,291 votes (11.7%), has conceded defeat. Earlier, he had formed an alliance with Garcia.
The final results are expected only in July due to the role played by ranked choice voting this year. People selected their first five choices. Those who got the lowest will be eliminated and their second choice votes will go to others. This process will continue till a winner is found. So the leading candidates may not be the winners when the final count is over.
In the city council primary, attorney Shekar Krishnan is leading in District 25 in Queens with 3,167 votes (30.9%) after 71% of precincts had reported. Of his opponents, Carolyn Tran got 1,820 votes (17.7%) and Yi Chen 1,808 votes (17.6%).
In District 32, Indian American Felicia Singh leads with 3,206 votes (36.8%) after 50 percent votes were polled. Singh’s main opponent, Michael Scala, got 3,094 votes (35.5%).
In District 39 in Brooklyn, Bangladeshi American Shahana Hanif won with 10,691 votes (32.5%). Her closest opponent, Brandon West, polled 7,427 votes (22.6%).
In District 23, several Indian American contested, but Korean American Linda Lee was ahead when 69 percent of the votes were counted, with 3,829 votes (31.3%). Her closest opponent, Indian American progressive candidate Jaslin Kaur received 3,237 votes (26.5%).
Others in the fray were Steve Behar 1,625 votes (13.3%) Debra Markell 1,211 votes (9.9%), Sanjeev Jindal 1,146 votes (9.4%), Koshy Thomas 642 (5.2%), and Harpreet Toor 541 (4.4%).
In District 26, Julie Won is leading with 2,818 votes (18.5%) after 92% of the votes were polled. Indian American Amit Bagga got 2,693 votes (17.7%)

Sekhar Krishnan