US election today. In addition to English, four languages have been included in the ballot paper of New York City in this election. Among these, Bengali language has been included. The remaining three languages are - Chinese, Spanish and Korean.
According to the news agency PTI, Bengali is also included in the ballot paper of the state of New York along with other languages. According to the report, Bengali is the first among the Asian-Indian languages to be printed on the ballot paper of New York.
Michael J. Ryan, executive director of the New York State branch of the Board of Elections, the organization that conducts elections in the United States, gave this information in a press briefing on Monday.
At a briefing held in New York City, the main city of New York, Ryan said, 'For the convenience of immigrant voters, the Board of Elections New York branch has decided to include four languages along with English. These languages are Chinese, Spanish, Korean and Bengali.'
In response to a question in the briefing, Michael J. Ryan said, "I understand that other Indian speakers may be upset by choosing only Bengali (for the ballot paper) and excluding other Indian languages, but we had no other choice."
It is worth noting that a case was filed in a New York court two years ago under the US Voting Rights Act, 1965. The plaintiffs demanded that ballot papers be issued in at least one immigrant language in addition to English in areas where there is a large number of immigrants in New York.
Later, the decision to publish ballot papers in these four languages was taken based on an agreement between the New York state administration and the plaintiffs.
Earlier, Bengali ballots were introduced in the Queens state of the country considering immigrants.
Incidentally, the state of New York in the United States is inhabited by immigrants. A large part of the country's total immigrants live in various cities of this state, including New York City. Of all the Bengalis living in the country, 40 percent live in New York. Overall, lakhs of Bangladeshis can exercise their voting rights across the United States. In this situation, it is believed that the New York administration has decided to use the Bengali language on the ballot for the convenience of Bangladeshi voters.