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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline JUNE 18, 2021 | The Indian Eye 23

cal office on Tuesday (June 8). American Mohin Patel in the
Edison’s mayoral race has been primary – receiving 11,216 votes
defined by a racist mailer from for 75.42 percent to Patel’s 3,656
2017. Middlesex County Demo- votes for 24.58 percent.
crats awarded Joshi the line af- Perennial candidate Hirsh
ter growing increasingly uncom- Singh was hoping to advance in
fortable with Bhagia’s alleged the Republican Party ticket for
involvement in the drafting of the New Jersey gubernatorial
a 2017 mailer that promised seat to take on Democratic in-
to “Make Edison Great Again” cumbent Phil Murphy.
and warned the “Chinese and However, in a four-candi-
Indians are taking over our date race, Singh finished with
town.” 68,481 votes, accounting for 21.5
The mailer has spurred a Mahesh Bhagia Hirsh Singh percent, and finished third. Jack
state criminal investigation. At- Ciattarelli (157,346, 49.4 per-
torney General Gurbir Grew- til, Wilentz law firm partner Vin Gopal advanced unopposed cent) won the primary convinc-
al on Tuesday declined to say Satish Poondi, Jerry Shi — one in the 11th Legislative District; ingly. Philip Rizzo finished just
whether another race-baiting of the School Board candidates Agha Khan, running as a Re- ahead of Singh at 82,662 votes
mailer, sent by Bhagia supporter targeted by the mailer — and publican, advanced unopposed for 25.9 percent. Brian Levine
and former Republican Wood- four others were responsible for in the 33rd District. (10,254, 3.2 percent) finished a
cliff Lake Councilman Corrado sending the mail piece. Meanwhile, in the 18th Leg- distant fourth.
Belgiovine, had been rolled into Shi is now president of islative District, Republican Vi- Ciattarelli will face Dem-
the probe. the Edison School Board. hal Patel advanced unopposed ocratic incumbent Gov. Phil
The newer mail piece touted Patil was recorded saying to take on Democratic incum- Murphy in the fall. Seeking a
a prominent Pakistani communi- Bhagia and Poondi mas- bent Patrick Diegnan Jr. Die- second term in Trenton, Mur-
ty leader’s endorsement of Joshi. terminded the 2017 mailer. gnan advanced on the Dem- phy ran unopposed in his par-
In a huge development be- A lifelong resident and a first ocratic side by beating Indian ty’s primary.
fore the election, U.S. Sen. Bob generation American whose
Menendez (D-North Bergen) parents came to the U.S. from
condemned a race-baiting mail- India to build a better life, Joshi,
er sent to Edison’s Gujarati res- as the vice president of the town
idents Wednesday, adding that council, has consistently vot-
the mail piece should “abso- ed against tax increases, it said.
lutely” be subject to a criminal Joshi was born and raised in Ed-
investigation. ison and currently serves as the
“That mailer is used for the Council vice president in Edison
purposes of seeking to create Township, the fifth largest mu-
fear and division, and it is the nicipality in New Jersey. Joshi
lowest form of political cam- was elected at-large, represent-
paigning,” he said, adding he ing all of Edison Township.
considered the letter racist. “It At 27, Joshi was the youngest
should be condemned. It’s out- elected official in a municipali-
rageous, and there’s no place ty of over 100,000 residents. In
for that in our state, whether it 2017, Joshi was endorsed by the
be in Edison or any place else,” Democratic Organization and
he was quoted as saying by New won the Democratic primary for
Jersey Globe. the Edison Council.
Citing department policy In the Edison Council pri-
that bars comment on active in- mary, with three seats up for
vestigations, Attorney General grabs, Nishith Patel finished in
Gurbir Grewal on Tuesday de- the top three – along with Mar-
clined to say whether the new got Harris and John Poyner – to
mailer had been rolled into an advance to the general on the
existing probe into a racist mail- Democrat side. Sparshil Patel
er Edison voters received in finished sixth and did not ad-
2017. vance. Payal Mehta was among
Grewal has empaneled a three GOP candidates running,
grand jury to weigh charges all whom advanced with three
over that mailer, which a U.S. seats open.
Postal Service inspector alleged In the New Jersey state Sen-
Bhagia, Councilman Ajay Pa- ate race, Democratic incumbent

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