Bobby Jindal elected Louisiana governor

Republican Congressman Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal, 36, has created history by becoming the first-ever Indian-American to be elected a governor in the history of the United States.

With 100 percent of the precincts reporting -- 3,967 of 3,967 -- Jindal received 699,672 or 53.61 per cent of votes, which put him over the top of the magic 50 percentile that precludes a November run-off and automatically makes him the next governor of this Cajun state.

Coverage: The Bobby Jindal story

Jindal, who beat out a field of 12 candidates, also created history by becoming the first candidate to win an open gubernatorial seat since Louisiana adopted the non-partisan primary system in 1975 where the candidate who receives over 50 per cent of the vote is elected the state's chief executive.

In another first, Jindal, also becomes the first member of a racial  minority to win the governorship in Louisiana since Reconstruction.

Jindal thumped his closest Democratic rival State Senator Walter J Boasso, who could muster only  226,364 or 17.44 per cent of the votes, and New Orleans businessman John Georges, a non-party candidate, who received 186,800 or 14.39 per cent of the vote.

Coming in fourth, was another Democrat, Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, who received 161,425 or 12.44 per cent of the vote.

Interview: Bobby Jindal

An elated Jindal with his wife Supriya by his side, who was holding their three-year-old son, at the election party in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn Select in Baton Rouge, exclaimed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Louisiana," and

then declared, "Folks, I have got a great idea. Let's give our homeland, our great state of Louisiana a fresh start."

And then thanking his wife, said, "As anyone who knows me knows, there's no Bobby without Supriya."

Four years ago, Jindal won the primary, but was unable to get over the magic 50 per cent mark that would have automatically given him the keys to the governor's mansion in Baton Rouge, his birthplace, and even though in the run-off that followed more than a month later where he was leading by double digits till the final few days of the campaign, he was ultimately beaten by a couple of points by current incumbent Governor, Democrat Kathleen Blanco, who, in the wake of scathing criticism following what was perceived as her incompetent governance during Hurricane Katrina which devastated Louisiana and all of the Gulf Coast, decided not to seek re-election.

Among the many honours from the community received by him, Jindal was chosen as the India Abroad Person of the Year in 2005. India Abroad is a newspaper published in the US, and owned by rediff.com.