Community members in Lexington, Massachusetts, March 4 headed to the polls to vote for a number of municipal seats, with a plethora of Indian Americans seeking town meeting member seats.

Out of the nine precincts, which were placing anywhere from seven to nine members, a total of six Indian Americans were hoping to win a seat.

In Precinct 2, Ajay Joseph finished fifth out of 13 candidates with his 207 votes, winning a three-year term.

A longtime resident of Lexington, Joseph has been working for the past 20 years at iBasis in Lexington, currently as the chief technology officer. He has served on GSM Association executive committees on mobile phone roaming, served on several technical advisory groups for telecommunications, and teaches at Northeastern University. He earned a master’s degree from Columbia University.

Jyotsna Kakullavarapu was seeking a seat in Precinct 5, but failed to do so as she finished last in the 10-candidate race where seven were elected to a seat.

A physician, public health specialist, owner and CEO of Interim HealthCare of Lexington, a Home Health Care agency, Kakullavarapu’s passion is senior care. She enjoys making resources available for reducing the ER visits/rehospitalization and saving money for Center for Medicare and Medicaid services under the Affordable Care Act, her bio said.

In the seventh precinct, Vikas Kinger earned one of the seven seats, finishing sixth with 235 votes, while Umesh Shelat was eighth, just shy of earning one of the seven spots.

Kinger, an incumbent candidate, has lived in Lexington for last 12 years with his wife and two children, according to his bio. He has an M.B.A. from Boston University and is the founder of a startup. He was deeply involved in the issues the town is facing and was instrumental in passing bills and bylaws to help the town become more safe, secure, both environment and business friendly, and support Lexington public schools.

From 2010-2014, Shelat was an active proponent for the design and construction of the new Estabrook Elementary School, his bio noted. Currently, given the impending demolition of the Minuteman Tech pool, he has been engaged in working with the Lexington School administration to design a short-term and long-term solution for swim facilities for the LHS, it said.

In Precinct 9, Pam Joshi and Dr. Dilip H. Patel were both able to earn enough votes to win one of the eight seats, finishing eighth and seventh, respectively, in the 13-candidate race.

Joshi, an incumbent, is an active volunteer involved in town committees including the Human Services Committee, the Tax Deferral and Exemption Study Committee and the Mental Health and Wellness Task Force. She has a doctorate and master’s in public policy, and is an experienced policy researcher, project director and teacher at Brandeis University, her bio noted.

Patel has over 30 years of experience as a practicing physician, currently a senior anesthesiologist and managing partner at Winchester Hospital. He also serves as director of the acute pain service. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor at UMass medical school for 12 years and chief of anesthesia at Milford Regional Hospital for 10 years.

No Indian Americans were seeking the Precinct 1, Precinct 3, Precinct 4, Precinct 6 and Precinct 8 seats.

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