Biden Approaches Victory, Indians Get Ready To Celebrate

JAKARTA - Villagers in India have started painting slogans on the streets hoping for the victory of Joe Biden-Kamala Harris in the US presidential election. This is following the closer victory of the Democratic Party pair.

The village of Thulasendrapuram, which lies about 320 kilometers south of Chennai, is where Harris's maternal grandfather was born more than a century ago.

"From yesterday we were excited about the final result. Now, we hear positive news. We are waiting to celebrate his victory, "said Abirami, a resident of Thulasendrapuram as quoted by Reuters on Thursday, November 5.

Many of his neighbors watched the latest information on US election vote counts on their cell phones.

The lush green village in the south of the country has also been adorned with Harris posters, and prayers offered at local Hindu temples.

Biden is leading the tally of votes and has been expected to win in hotly contested states - including Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina - which are still tallying votes and making election results uncertain.

Harris's grandfather, PV Gopalan, and his family moved to Chennai nearly 90 years ago. He retired there as a high government official.

Harris, who was born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father who both immigrated to the US to study, visited Thulasendrapuram when he was five years old and recalls taking walks with his grandfather on a Chennai beach.