Two Pakistani-Americans running for US Congress

WASHINGTON (Web Desk) - Two Pakistani Americans are running for US Congress in 2016, as the country enters the crucial race to elect the next President of the United States.

Currently Republicans are in control of House of Representatives.

Dean H Malik, 44 is a Republican candidate for the 8th Congressional District of Pennsylvania while Ali Mirza, 54, is a Democratic candidate for the 5th Congressional District of New York.

Malik, whose parents are professors at Villanova University for over 40 years, is a veteran of the US Marine Corps, a former criminal prosecutor and a successful layer in private practice.

Mirza holds a bachelorette degree in International Relations and owns a firm Public Relations firm which deals in political consultancies.

“I am running for Congress in order to take my pursuit of justice to our nation’s capital,” Malik said on his website. “As a conservative, I want government to work for all the American people, not just for the wealthy and well connected.”

Malik’s father came to the United States in 1953 to attend Syracuse University where he met his wife of 40 years.

The United States is currently in the grip of election fever as candidates from two major parties, Republican and Democratic, are vying to win presidential nominations from their respective party.

President Barack Obama from the Democratic party is in his second term and will hand over the rein to his successor in January next year.

Presidential candidates who win maximum delegates in party elections in 50 states will win the nomination to be in one-on-one contest between the Republican and the Democratic party for the post of the President to be held in November, 2016.

Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is facing Senator Bernie Sanders in a one-on-one contest to win the Democratic party nomination for the White House. She beat her rival by a whisker in the first voting held in the state of Iowa last month.

Nine candidates are in the run for Republican nomination, with billionaire real-estate tycoon Donald Trump in the lead in national poll. He however lost the first election to rival Ted Cruz in Iowa.  Among the candidates is Jeb Bush, brother and son of former US Presidents, but he is lagging behind many candidates.

Senator Sanders won the second state of New Hampshire. Trump won New Hampshire with a wide margin. South Carolina is next in line for voting due in March.