International Desk: The US presidential election is Tuesday (October 5). It goes without saying that global politics and economy will be very much dependent on the domestic and foreign policies of this country, which is the only powerful country in the world, and people all over the world will be watching this election. US voters will decide who will be the next head of state of the most powerful country in the world.
This time, the 60th presidential election is going to be held in the United States. The main battle is between Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party and Donald Trump of the Republican Party.
Now various calculations are going on. The polls show a close fight. Many voters will decide at the last minute. The whole world is also watching the vote of the most powerful country in the world. Bengali is one of the four foreign languages that have been placed on the New York state ballot paper in that election, along with English. Michael J. Ryan, executive director of the New York state branch of the Board of Elections, the United States election management agency, said this information in a press briefing on Monday.
In a briefing held in New York City, the capital of New York, Ryan said, the New York branch of the Board of Elections has decided to include four languages in addition to English in the ballot paper for the convenience of immigrant voters. These languages are Chinese, Spanish, Korean and Bengali.
Incidentally, the US state of New York is inhabited by residents. A large part of the country's total immigrants live in various cities of this state, including New York City.
According to government statistics, more than 200 languages are spoken in New York. These include various Indian languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil. But among them only Bengali has been chosen as the Indian language.
Many Bengali speaking people live in New York. Most of whom are of Bangladeshi origin. According to 2020 statistics, more than one lakh Bengali-speaking people live in this US state. Bengalis in New York live mainly in Brooklyn, Queens and Bronx. A part of the Kensington area of Brooklyn is called 'Little Bangladesh' by the locals.
About 40 percent of Bengalis living in the United States live in New York. In total, more than 100,000 Bangladeshis can exercise their right to vote in the United States. In this situation, it is believed that the New York administration has decided to use Bengali language in the ballot for the convenience of Bangladeshi voters.
States have different rules when it comes to electing the president of the United States. In 2020, Hindi along with many other languages were placed on the ballot in Illinois state keeping in mind the Hindi speaking voters.
In response to a question in this regard in the briefing, Michael J. Ryan said, I understand that Bengali-speaking Indians may be dismayed by the selection of only Bengali to the exclusion of other Indian languages for the ballot paper, but other than that there was no change before us.
A case was filed in a New York court two years ago under the US Voting Rights Act of 1965. The plaintiffs demanded that New York's precincts with high immigrant populations be given ballots in at least one immigrant language in addition to English.
