By: Prajwal Bhatt Published in:* Scroll* Date: December 10, 2025 Soure: https://scroll.in/article/1089082/indian-american-turnout-soared-in-mayoral-poll-despite-hindutva-campaign-against-zohran-mamdani South Asian voter participation surged across New York City but not in some pockets where affluent Indian-Americans reside, shows data.
When Zohran Mamdani became New York City’s first South Asian and Muslim mayor on November 4, his victory was powered in part by strong support from the city’s South Asian immigrant communities. New data analysed by Desis Rising Up and Moving Beats, a South Asian organising group that mobilised voters for Mamdani’s campaign, shows that Indian American voter turnout was particularly high in council districts with large Indian American populations – this despite a coordinated campaign by Hindutva groups to claim he was anti-Hindu. In Council District 39, which covers parts of Brooklyn including Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and Sunset Park, Indian American voter turnout was 64%. Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs that constitute the city. The other four are Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. In Council District 6, which includes Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, an area with a significant Indian American population, turnout was 55%. In Council District 25, which includes Jackson Heights and Elmhurst – neighbourhoods known as South Asian enclaves – Indian American turnout was 44%. New York has 51 Council Districts, each represented by an elected council member. Mamdani won 82% of the vote in Park Slope, 56% in Hell’s Kitchen and 60% in Jackson Heights, according to election data published by the *New York Times* <https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/04/us/elections/results-new-york-city-mayor.html> . The data analysed by DRUM Beats is based on a statistical model that estimates voter ethnicity from names and other factors using New York City Board of Elections figures. The analysis covers all election data except approximately 100,000 provisional ballots. The results made it clear that South Asian voter participation surged across the city in the mayoral elections. While overall citywide voter turnout rose by 180%, South Asian communities saw far steeper increases. Bangladeshi voters nearly quadrupled their turnout, with a 386% increase – from 10,741 voters in 2021 to 41,452 in 2025. Indian and Pakistani Americans both saw 338% increases, while the overall South Asian vote rose by 350%. Turnout among Muslim voters increased by 283%. Voter Turnout Increases (2021 to 2025) Community Increase Citywide 180% South Asian 350% Bangladeshi 386% Indian 338% Pakistani 338% Muslim 283% The surge meant that while South Asians make up about 3.4% of registered voters in New York City, they cast 3.5% of all votes in 2025 – up from 1.8% in 2021. Volunteers who worked on canvassing in South Asian neighborhoods say they are not surprised by the voting numbers. Volunteers knocked on over 18,000 doors in neighbourhoods like Jackson Heights, Woodside, Elmhurst, Richmond Hill, and Ozone Park and canvassed in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Nepali and other South Asian languages in these areas. These areas have historically been overlooked by citywide candidates, according to Jagpreet Singh, the political director of DRUM Beats. “This campaign resonated with working-class and immigrant voters who have never been spoken to by the political establishment,” said Jagpreet Singh. “We reached hundreds of thousands of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean New Yorkers who turned out in historic and record numbers.” He added that it was the people Mamdani met in person and galvanised through South Asian community groups and at cultural centres who eventually vouched for him to friends and neighbors, powering his win in the elections. In the year leading up to the election last month, 340,788 new voters registered citywide, including 11,661 South Asians and 21,860 Muslims. Among South Asian communities, Bangladeshis led with 5,459 new registrations, followed by 1,758 Indians, 1,746 Punjabis, and 1,643 Pakistanis. New Voter Registration in 2025 Category New Voters Registered Total (Citywide) 340,788 Muslim 21,860 South Asian 11,661 Bangladeshi 5,459 Pakistani 1,643 Indo-Caribbean (IC) 990 Punjabi 1,746 Nepali 862 Tibetan 564 Arab 1,398 Indian 1,758 However, Mamdani’s support was weaker in some affluent Indian American neighbourhoods. In Bellerose, Floral Park, Fresh Meadows and Glen Oaks – Queens neighbourhoods with pockets of more affluent Indian American families – Council District 23 saw Indian American voter turnout ranking in the bottom half of all city council districts. This district is estimated to have over 2,300 Indian American voters in DRUM Beats’ model – more than twice the number in Jackson Heights’ – making it one of the city’s largest concentrations of Indian American voters in the city. Mamdani had celebrated Indian Independence Day in Bellerose in August, where he was mobbed for selfies and photos, though some residents expressed reservations about his socialist platform and promises of rent freezes and free public transit. Mamdani narrowly won in Bellerose with 48% of the vote and Floral Park with 46%, but lost Glen Oaks, where he received 25% to Cuomo's 64%, according to the *New York Times.* <https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/24/us/elections/nyc-mayor-primary-results-precinct-map.html> For those following the election campaigns, the opposition to Mamdani in these parts of the city was no surprise. A group called “Indian Americans for Cuomo”, floated by self-proclaimed Donald Trump and Hindutva supporter Satya Dosapati, was launched just 10 days before the June primary and spent close to $10,000 on aerial banners over the Hudson River urging voters to reject Mamdani, along with digital truck campaigns and radio advertisements. Dosapati, who lives in New Jersey, had said that there was opposition to Mamdani among Indian Americans in the Greater New York area. In addition, prominent members of the Gujarati Samaj of New York – the city’s largest organisation representing Gujarati Americans – publicly opposed Mamdani over his criticism of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mamdani had called Modi a “war criminal” for his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots that killed over a thousand people, mostly Muslims. Andrew Cuomo did little outreach to South Asian voters until October, weeks before the election, when he launched a South Asian voter campaign. In his announcement, he referred to the community as “Southeast Asians”, drawing backlash. Yet, the campaign by Hindutva supporters raised questions about whether Indian Americans – the most visible group from the South Asian community – were divided over Mamdani. But that appears not to have been the case.
