3 candidates of South Asian origin won; 4 lost

In New Jersey Winning Candidates I ndian American candidates made a good showing in the just concluded Nov. 6 elections to var ious offices in New Jersey. They won 3 of the 6 seats they contested. One Pakistani American candidate, who ran for the New Jersey State Senate, lost.
New Jersey voters defeated Governor Jon Corzine's Stem Cell Research ballot initiative that would have allowed the state to borrow $450 million to fund research. The initiative lost 53 percent to 47 percent.
Incumbent Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula is back from District 17. Rajiv Prasad returned as Councilman to Franklin Township Council.
And Dr. Sudarshan Prasad, a doctor of internal medicine, won his bid for Edison City Council.
Chivukula, who has been in office since 2002, the first Indian American to be elected to the New Jersey State Assembly, won back his seat with 30 percent of the vote. The top two votegetters, incumbents Chivukula and Joseph V.
Egan, Democrats, held their seats. Egan got 31 percent of the vote. Republican opponents Matthew "Skip" House garnered 19 percent and Leonard Messineo 21 percent.
Chivukula has been Deputy Speaker in the Assembly, and an active legislator. He is the Chair of the Telecommunications and Utilities Committee, and also serves on the Commerce and Economic Development Committee.
Sudhanshu Prasad, a physician, was elected to Edison City Council in New Jersey for a four-year term. The four Democratic candidates, of whom Prasad was one, trounced the four Republicans in the race. AnneMarie Griffin-Ussak secured 6,883 votes, Melissa Perilstein got 6,513 votes, Sudhanshu Prasad got 6,251 votes and Wayne Mascola with 6,528 votes. They were about 1,000 votes higher than the Republican team.
Rajiv Prasad received 4,785 votes, one of three to win the 4-year term At-Large council seat. The other two who won were Kimberly Francois (D) with 5,177 votes and incumbent Daniel Glicklich (D) with 5,154. All three Republican contenders lost.
Prasad, an Assistant Vice President for Satyam Computer Services Ltd., has served on the township council since 2006. A resident of Franklin Township for the last 30 years, he has an MBA from American University in Washington D.C.
He has spent his professional career in healthcare marketing, management and sales with multinational companies including Bristol Myers, Bausch & Lomb Soflens and Johnson & Johnson. He has also taught marketing and management courses at Rutgers University.
He has, additionally, served on Franklin's Planning Board, Human Relations Commission, Land Use Committee, Public Works Committee, Traffic and Safety Committee, Senior Affordable Housing Committee and as the NonSenior Member of the Senior Advisory Committee.
But those running for the State Senate lost Seema Singh (Democrat) from District 14, and Pakistani American Wasim Khan (Democrat) from the 26th District.
In the races for New Jersey State Senate, candidate Seema Singh, former Ratepayer Advocate, running from the 14th District, lost to Republican Bill Baroni. Baroni got 32,685 votes (63 percent) to Singh's 19,421 (37 percent). Her election stalled on accusations she had used a state worker as a personal driver. A breakdown in her votes shows Singh received 48 percent of the vote in Middlesex County and 29 percent in Mercer, whereas Baroni secured 71 percent in Mercer and 52 percent in Middlesex.
Wasim A. Khan (Democrat), a Pakistani American, who also ran for the New Jersey State Senate, lost heavily. He secured 13,294 votes or 34 percent to Republican contender Joe Pennacchio who got almost double - 26,217 or 66 percent.
Milin Shah, 20, ran a great race for Parsippany Township Council. He announced his bid on Oct.
1, and despite a short campaign, garnered attention.
But he missed making one of the top three vote getters, ranking fourth. The three top vote-getters were all Republicans. Shah got 3,240 votes, falling 679 votes short of getting the third slot to win the seat.
"I've always been interested in politics since I was a senior in High School," he told Desi Talk.
"I thought at my age, I would be better able to represent people on the Council."
Three Democrats, three Republicans and two Independents ran for the three seats. "I'm going to sit down with my managers and my family and discuss and hopefully in the future (run again," Shah said.
Ytit Chauhan, 19, a college student running as an Independent for Atlantic City Council from Ward 6, suffered a defeat similar to all other challengers who were routed by incumbents.
Chauhan, because of his age, has grabbed media attention. In the elections in Ward 6, incumbent Democrat Tim Mancuso received 596 votes; Chauhan secured 307 votes or 31 percent, while another Independent candidate Steven Layman got 90 votes or nine percent.
Published in DESI TALK 11/16/2007