US election 2024: Why Bengali is the only Indian language on New York ballots

New York, known as the melting pot of America, will have Bengali as one of the four languages, apart from English, on its ballot paper for the US presidential election. The United States is set to vote on November 5 to elect its 47th president, and Bengali will be the sole South Asian language available to help voters of Indian and Bangladeshi origin in New York City cast their ballot.

Chinese, Spanish, and Korean languages will also be used on the ballot paper in NYC.

Micheal J Ryan, Executive Director, Board of Elections, NYC, said, “We are required to service four other languages besides English. It is Chinese, Spanish, Korean and Bengali as the Asian languages.”

For Subhshesh, a Bengali-speaking sales agent at a store in Times Square, the addition of his native language is a welcome support for his father and other community members.

“People like me know English, but there are many in our community who are more comfortable in the native language. This helps them at the polling station. I am sure my father will like the idea of seeing a Bengali language ballot paper,” he said.

How Bengali language made it to ballot

The decision to include Bengali is not a symbolic gesture but a legal requirement. New York City is obligated to provide voting materials in Bengali at certain poll sites. The mandate goes beyond ballot papers to cover other essential voting materials.

Explaining the reason behind the decision to include Bengali in the list of languages the Board of Elections serves, Ryan pointed to a lawsuit.

"The settlement of that lawsuit required within a certain population density to have an Asian Indian language. Then through some negotiations, they settled on Bengali. I understand the limitations of Bengali being the choice but it came out of a lawsuit,” he said.

The inclusion of Bengali-language ballots was first implemented in 2013 after a federal order under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 called for provision of language assistance for South Asian minorities in New York.

Dr Avinash Gupta, President, of the Federation of Indian Association says it helps the Indian community.

“It will help the Indian population to go out and vote. That is how we can get our voices heard. We are a sizable population. It is heartening to see how Indians go out and vote and even contest elections”, says Dr Avinash Gupta.