Dr Ami Bera was on the cusp of creating history by becoming only the third Indian-American ever to be elected to the US House of Representatives, as five others from the community bit the dust in the polls.

Bera, 45, had a lead of just 184 votes against his Republican rival and incumbent Dan Lungren, when all the votes were counted for the Seventh Congressional District in California. But the Secretary of State, California put the results in the category of  "close contest", in which there is less than a two per cent difference between the first and second place for candidates or between yes and no votes for ballot measures.

According to the Office of the Secretary of State, California, Bera had received 50.1 per cent of the total votes counted, while Lungren had received 49.9 per cent of the votes. Bera received 88,406 votes, while Lungren got 88,222 votes.