Staff Reporter: A bunch of Bangladeshi candidates have been defeated in the Democratic primary election in New York, USA. Voting was held last Tuesday (June 23). Knowing that defeat was certain, the bigwigs of these communities took part in the Democratic primary election to take advantage of themselves and make a name for themselves in the community. There has been a mixed reaction among expatriate Bangladeshis to the news of the historic collapse of these candidates.
The defeated Bangladeshi candidates in the Democratic primary held on Tuesday are Badrun Khan Mita, Shaniat Chowdhury, Mary Jobaida, Mahfuz Islam, Joy Chowdhury and 10 other Bangladeshi candidates. Among them, Jamila Akhter Uddin is ahead in the post of committeewoman. Many see the possibility of his victory. Although it will take several days to get the final result. Because the counting of votes of the absent voters is still pending. Although the turnout was low as usual, the participation of the community was remarkable as the number of candidates of Bangladeshi descent was higher this time.
At least 15 people of Bangladeshi descent took part in the election, including two in the US Congress, three in the State Assembly, Bangladeshi-Americans and various positions, including district leaders. Never before has so many new generation Bangladeshis from New York participated in the elections.
Sources said that the Board of Election Office has emphasized on the ballot of the absent voters as this year’s election was held due to the coronavirus epidemic. As a result, the Board of Elections sent ballot papers to more than 700,000 New York voters, the source said.
Among the Bangladeshi candidates in the preliminary election on Tuesday, June 23, Badrunnahar Mita from New York’s Congressional District-14 and Shaniyat Chowdhury from Congressional District-5 contested for the post of US Congresswoman. Mary Jobaida from New York State Assembly District-36 (Queens Bridge, Long Island City, Sunny Side, Woodside, Maspath and Ridgewood) as Assemblywoman, Mahfuzul Islam from Assembly District-24 and Assembly Joy-3 from Assembly District-24.
Moumita Ahmed and Mahtab Khan and Ishtiaq Chowdhury have been elected as the District Leaders of the Democratic Party, Mahtab Khan and Ishtiaq Chowdhury as the Leaders of the Mail Leaders from Assembly District-24, Mohammad Chowdhury as the Mail Leader of the Assembly District-32 and Mobassem Begum Saida Akhter contested for the post, Nafiz I Chowdhury for the post of mail leader from Assembly District-54 and N Majumder for the post of mail leader from Assembly District-6.
On the other hand, Mohammad M Rahman contested for the post of Judicial Delegate from Assembly District-24. Jamila Akhter Uddin of Bangladeshi descent is contesting for the post of Committeewoman from State Assembly District-24 of New York.
According to the latest results, incumbent Congresswoman Grace Meng has been re-elected from Bangladeshi-dominated New York’s Congregational District-6 in Tuesday’s election. It is known that he had the support of a large number of Bangladeshis.
On the other hand, Gregory Mix, a veteran and current Congressman, contested again from Congressional District-5. Shaniyat Chowdhury, a young Bangladeshi-American politician, competed with him in the primary. Congressman Gregory Mix received 33,098 votes in this seat. His rival Bangladeshi-American Shaniat Chowdhury got 8.96 votes.
Incumbent Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been re-elected from Bangladeshi-dominated Congressional District-14. She got 26,103 or 72.8% votes. Among the other candidates for the seat were Michael Kasu-Cabrena with 8,254 or 19.4% of the vote, Badrun Khan with 2,030 or 5.4% and Samuel Sloan with 923 or 2.5%. Incumbent Catherine Nolan, the winner of the New York State Assembly District-36 seat, received 52.5%, or 4,314 votes, while her rival, Mary Jobaida, received 33%, or 2,611 votes. Mary Jobaidar is the second candidate out of 3 candidates in this constituency.
Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, the winning candidate in the Assembly District-34 seat, got 40.4% or 2,514 votes, while her rival Joy Chowdhury got 15.1% or 943 votes. Out of 5 candidates in this constituency, the winning seat is third.
Donovan Richard is leading the Bangladeshi-dominated Queens Borough of New York City with 39.61 percent of the vote. Other candidates for the post include Elizabeth Crowley with 30,604 or 27.4% of the vote, Costa Constantinidis with 16,036 or 15.5% of the vote, Anthony Miranda with 16,038 or 14.6% and Dao Yin with 4,641. That is 4.5% of the vote.
BP/SM
