Former Wall Street banker Mudita ‘Dita’ Bhargava has advanced to the Aug. 14 primary in her bid for Connecticut state treasurer but faces an uphill battle after two rivals garnered more votes than her at the Democratic State Convention.
Bhargava, 45, who withdrew her gubernatorial candidacy in February, faces a contest against former Hartford City Council President Shawn Wooden and Sri Lankan-American attorney Arunan Arulampalam. On May 19, Wooden comfortably won the Democratic endorsement for treasurer with 58 percent of the vote in the second ballot. Arulampalam received 42 percent. Bhargava, who qualified for a primary spot on the first ballot, decided not to participate in the second vote, which released her delegates to choose between Wooden and Arulampalam.
In the first ballot, both Bhargava and Arulampalam, who received 22 percent and 32 percent respectively of the delegate vote, had secured their places for the primary because they had cleared the 15 percent threshold.
Another candidate, John Blankley, a former financial officer with BP North America, could not clear the threshold, being able to muster only about 5 percent of the vote in the first ballot.
The winner of August’s three-way primary will replace Treasurer Denise Nappier. The Democrat announced in January that she would not seek a sixth term.
“I got a much better result than expected in terms of support, and by making the primary ballot, I am the first Indian-American to be on a primary ballot for a constitutional seat in the state of Connecticut,” Bhargava told India Abroad.
Just after locking in her spot in the primary on the first ballot, Bhargava told the convention: “I am just so much more in love with our state at this point. I am so proud of the diverse candidates that have been up here. This is a year for diversity, for women.”
Earlier, State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who is openly gay, taking strong exception to grumbling among some delegates that the party didn’t have enough diversity, pointed to Blankley from Greenwich, Arulampalam of Hartford, Wooden, also from Hartford, and Bhargava from Greenwich. He told the Hartford Courant, “In the Treasurer’s race, we have a white, straight man from Greenwich, a Sri Lankan straight man from Hartford, an African American straight man from Hartford, and an Indian American straight woman from Greenwich. There’s a lot of diversity in that group, but at the end of the day, only one of them is going to win…I will put our numbers and our base against the other side any day.”
By Lokesh
