UNITED STATES: A 36-year-old lawyer and educator of Indian heritage has submitted an application for the position of county commissioner in the US state of Alabama, said a media source.
Democratic candidate for the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners Neil Makhija is a civil rights lawyer, lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, and subject of a recent feature in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In addition to being the first Asian-American district administrator or commissioner in a Pennsylvania district, Makhija, the executive director of IMPACT, a significant South Asian civic group in the US, will also join the board if elected, according to The Keystone News.
According to report, Makhija said in a statement that "helping elect qualified people whose work frequently goes unappreciated and unrepresented in government" has been her life's work.
The electoral law lecturer was reported in the article as adding that it would be an honour to serve in the face of US Supreme Court cases in which Asian Americans have had their citizenship rights revoked.
Makhija, who was born to Indian immigrants, was one of 13 civil rights leaders invited to the White House by President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to provide advice on civil and voting rights in 2021, according to his website.
State Senator Vincent Hughes reportedly wrote to the Montgomery County Democratic Committee, "Under Neil's guidance, the county would take its voting operations to the next level and see historic levels of voter involvement in our vital county.
Makhija was named one of the "40 under 40" most prominent people in Pennsylvania politics by City & State PA, among some of the highest ranking state politicians.
He served in the US Senate and the White House after earning a law degree from Harvard Law School.
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