With US elections due next month, several Indian-Americans are hopeful of winning a seat in the US Congress, especially women. According to US political experts, there are several Americans of Indian origin who are eying becoming legislators.
Among them is California's Attorney General Kamala Harris, 51, a close confidant of US President Barack Obama. She is expected to be elected to the US Senate and could thus become the first Indian-American woman to enter the upper houses of the US Congress.
Experts are also talking about Pramila Jayapal, 51 who is considered the front runner in the race for a US House of Representatives Seat from Washington State. She would be the first Indian-American woman to be elected to the House.
However, this is not the first time Indian-Americans made it as US legislators.
Dalip Singh Saund was the first Indian-American to be elected to the House of Representatives in the 1950s. It took another 50 years for another Indian-American - Bobby Jindal- to be elected to the Congress. Mr Jindal was elected twice from Louisiana before he went on to become a two-term governor of the state.
Ami Bera, the only Indian-American in the current Congress, is seeking his third consecutive term from California. Mr Bera is however fighting a close battle and has recently run into controversy regarding fund raising by his father.
His fellow Democrat, Ro Khanna, 40, has raised a record amount of money, and is considered to be running a close race with incumbent Congressman Mike Honda. He narrowly lost the 2014 general elections and is expected to come back stronger this year.
Another Indian-American Raja Krishnamoorthi, 43, is one of the few candidates who has been endorsed by US President Barack Obama. US political experts say he could win a seat to the House of Representatives, since he is running from a seat which is considered to be a Democrat stronghold.
