Ami Bera, the only Indian- American in the current Congress, has increased his lead over his Republican rival by nearly 5,000 votes, increasing the prospect of him being elected for the third time. Bera now leads Scott Jones by over 2 per cent, 119,448 votes to 114,646, according to Sacramento County Registrar of Voters.


The third-ever Indian-American to be elected to the House of Representatives, Bera if re-elected would be joined by three other Indian-Americans - Ro Khanna from California, Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois and Pramila Jayapal from Washington State - in the lower chambers of the US Congress.


Excluding over-votes and undervotes, 53.82 per cent of the ballots in this latest update went for Bera compared to just 46.18 per cent for Jones. "As our lead continues to grow, we're in the strongest position we've ever been in," Bera said.