Indian-American Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is the front-runner in the the Democratic primary election for New York City mayor, even as challenger and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday (June 24) announced he had conceded the race.After counting 91% of votes in the first round of the primary, Mamdani, a state representative, had 43.5% of the vote. Cuomo, a heavy favorite until recent weeks, polled at 36.4%, and conceded on Tuesday night.“Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won,” Cuomo said, adding that Mamdani had run a “really smart and good and impactful campaign”.The result thus sets up the 33-year-old to win the party’s nomination in the heavily Democratic city.On Tuesday, voters registered with New York City’s Democratic Party voted to select the party’s candidate for mayoral elections later this year. While the election concerns an 8 million-strong city that is one of the world’s largest melting pots, the rather local political contest has grabbed attention in no small part due to the campaign of Zohran Mamdani.A representative in the New York State Assembly, Mamdani is a self-described “democratic socialist” and has presented himself as the choice of progressive and working-class voters. He has contrasted himself with his major opponent, Cuomo, 67, who is seen as an establishment face of the party.Who is Zohran Mamdani?Zohran Mamdani is the son of India-born Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani and Indian filmmaker Mira Nair. Zohran was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, and then migrated to New York with his parents at age seven. In 2018, he was naturalised as a US citizen, and he married a Syrian artist earlier this year.Story continues below this adAlso Read | After the fragile truce: What now for Trump, Netanyahu, and Ayatollah Khamenei?He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College in the state of Maine. Before joining politics, he worked as a counsellor who helped low-income homeowners fight off evictions, according to his official profile on the NY Assembly website. Mamdani also dabbled in rap and writing before successfully running for assembly elections in 2020.What is his political platform about?His messaging has focused on affordability for the working class, with policies such as capping rent and the cost of groceries in one of the costliest cities globally. These policies, he said, will be funded by taxing the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers — those earning above $1 million annually (around Rs 8.6 crore) — a flat 2% tax. Other prominent democratic socialists, including Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, have also endorsed him.Mamdani’s visibility has been credited to his on-ground volunteers, as well as the unique and approachable style of the well-edited short videos he has posted on social media platforms. One of them, simplifying the elections’ ranked-choice voting system, features references from Bollywood movies like Deewar, mango lassis, and Mamdani speaking in Hindi and Urdu.How has he distinguished his political plank from Cuomo?His opponent, Andrew Cuomo, previously served as the governor of the state of New York — a position once held by his father. Cuomo resigned in 2021 after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment, but now plans to stage a revival. Former US President Bill Clinton and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have supported his candidacy.Story continues below this adOne major reason for Cuomo’s re-entry was that the current Democrat mayor, Eric Adams, was accused of bribery and fraud in an investigation by The New York Times earlier this year. He has denied the allegations and is running for reelection as an independent candidate.This left the Democratic field empty. Cuomo has criticised Mamdani for his administrative inexperience and his pro-Palestine stand, alleging he has engaged in anti-semitism. Notably, New York is home to the largest Jewish community in the world outside Israel.Mamdani was asked in a televised candidate debate whether he’d visit Israel as a mayor, to which he said, “As mayor, I will be standing up for Jewish New Yorkers and will be meeting them wherever they are across the five boroughs, whether it’s at their synagogues and temples or in their homes or at the subway platform.” On his part, Mamdani has criticised Cuomo’s sources of funding, including the support from large corporations.In contrast to Mamdani’s crowdpulling rallies, Cuomo has been far less visible, and opted for tightly managed appearances at small venues such as union offices. In the run-up to Tuesday’s vote, his campaign and the organisations backing him (some funded by billionaire Republican donors) changed their strategy to attacking Mamdani. The New York Times reported that Cuomo’s backers had raised $25 million in attack ads against Mamdani, a New York City record.When will the results be known?Story continues below this adAccording to the Associated Press, a winner might not be declared for a week because of the city’s ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to list up to five candidates in order of preference.If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the first round, several rounds of calculations will happen.Finally, the winner of the primary will face Eric Adams and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in the November elections.Cuomo told The New York Times on Tuesday night that he may still contest the November mayoral election as an independent. However, the city’s historic preference for the Democratic Party and the unpopularity of the incumbent Adams means the current primary winner will likely win the November vote.Does it have larger implications for national politics?Story continues below this adIf elected, Mamdani would be the city’s first Indian-American and first Muslim mayor. His victory will also signal greater acceptability among voters for progressive issues and socialist policies. On the other hand, Cuomo’s win would indicate a preference for more moderate, pro-establishment policies.The results could help steer the future of the Democratic Party, which lost the 2024 US Presidential elections and saw the Republicans make inroads into its traditional voter base — women, non-White groups, and working-class voters. In the 2020 elections, Joe Biden won by a margin of 23%, which fell to 12% four years later with Kamala Harris.One criticism, following the drubbing, was that the party had become too progressive on social and economic issues. However, another view said the opposite, arguing the party should be more centrist.