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Democratic socialist of Indian origin, Zohran Mamdani, elected mayor of the world’s financial capital in historic win

- Shashank Mattoo

Zohran Mamdani with his wife Rama Duwaji and parents Mahmood Mamdani and Mira Nair during his victory rally at the Brooklyn Paramount, New York City, on Tuesday.

(AFP)

Zohran Mamdani, 34, was elected as the mayor of New York in a historic win on Tuesday night, riding on a campaign that cast him as a foil toa hostile Republican President Donald Trump , who in turn portrayed the Indian-origin Democratic candidate as a dangerous radical out of touch with voters.

The self-described democratic socialist pulled off a stunning victory in the election and will take office on January 1, 2026 as the youngest mayor of New York in over a century, and also the first South Asian and Muslim to helm the administration of America’s Jargest and richest city.

Mamdani, who currently serves as an assemblyman in the New York State Assembly, defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was running as an independent. Mamdani won with 50.4% of votes, compared to Cuomo’s 41.6%. Replublican nominee Curtis Sliwa secured 7.1%. The incumbent Eric Adams dropped out of the race amid low poll numbers and a series of scandals and later endorsed Cuomo.

“Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru: ‘A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul ofa nation, long suppressed, finds utterance’,” Mamdani said in his victory speech in Brooklyn, quoting from a speech delivered by India’s first Prime Minister on the eve of India’s independence.