Jindal re-lected, six Indian-Americans win in legislature polls

Washington, Nov 8 (UNI) India-born Bobby Jindal (Republican) retained his Louisiana seat in the US House of Representatives while six Indian-Americans won seats in the State Legislatures in mid-term polls held yesterday.

Mr Jindal's victory is remarkable because he managed to secure a record 88 per cent of the total vote polled in his constituency, despite the popular discontent against his Republican Party because of the Iraq war.

Mr Jindal won for the first time in 1994 election, he became the second Indian American to be elected to the US Congress after Dilip Singh Saund of California in 1956.

The Indian-Americans who won seats in the state legislature are - Swati Dandekar (IOWA), Raj Goyle (Kansas), Kumar Barve and Saqib Ali (both Maryland), Satveer Chaudhury (Minnesota) and Jay Goyal (Ohio).

All of them contested on behalf of the Democratic Party.

However, another Indian, Raj Peter Bhakta, who also ran for the US House of Representatives on the Republican ticket like Mr Jindal, lost in Pennsylvania. Mr Bhakta secured only 34 per cent of the votes in the 13th District against his Democratic incumbent who polled 66 per cent of the vote.

According to reports from Delaware, a small state bordering New Jersey, Pameela Kaza failed to make to the state legislative assembly. She polled 45.5 per cent of the votes against 54.4 secured by her Republican rival Nancy Wagner 2829 Jay Goyal, who was elected to the Ohio state House is currently Vice President of Goyal Industries - a manufacturing firm that specialises in products for the mass transit and passenger rail car industry nationwide.

Mr Goyal attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

He also served on a review board with the Executive Vice President of Yale University and the Vice President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that evaluated Northwestern's Office of the Senior Vice President of Business and Finance. Mr Goyal interned at General Motors Corporation and the National Cooperative Business Association. Additionally, he has passed the United States State Department's Foreign Service Written Exam.

Raj Goyle scored one of the day's biggest upsets in yesterday' election when he beat three-term member Bonnie Huy for the District 87 Kansas House seat. He attended Duke University and then went to Harvard Law School where in addition to his legal studies, he founded a small technology company with two classmates.

Swati Dandekar who has been member of the Iowa House since 2002, had her education in Nagpur and Bombay University.

Satveer Chaudhary, a current member of the Minnesota Senate, won the race for re-election, earning 64 per cent of the vote. He was Minnesota's first Asian-American legislator. Just four years later, his election to the Senate made him the state's first Asian-American Senator, Minnesota's then-youngest Senator, and the highest ranking Asian-Indian official in the nation. This election marks his tenth anniversary as a legislator and first victory breaking 60 per cent, even while representing increasingly conservative precincts.

Mr Chaudhary's parents emigrated to the US from India in the 1960s. He said, ''My parents taught me to value education, hard work, and to never forget how we began.'' Barve has been a member of the Maryland state assembly since 1999 is a financial analyst.

With Barve, Saqib Ali will also sit in the maryland assembly. The Washington Post endorsed his candidature. He is believed to have won because of his progressive, grassroots campaign.

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