04 November 2004	Thursday	20 Ramazan 1425

WASHINGTON, Nov 3: Indian-American Piyush "Bobby" Jindal coasted to victory on Wednesday in his bid for a seat in the US House of Representatives, rebounding from his failed attempt last year to become governor of Louisiana.

A Republican, Jindal won 78 per cent of the votes cast on Tuesday in his district in suburban New Orleans, according to news reports.

His nearest competitor, Democrat Roy Armstrong, netted a little less than seven per cent of the vote.

With his resounding victory, Bobby Jindal, 33, whose parents come from the Punjab in northern India, affirmed his status as a rising star in the Republican Party.

His engineer father and civil servant mother emigrated from India before his birth, and Jindal was born and raised in the Louisiana capital Baton Rouge.

He was defeated in the race for governor last year by then Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Blanco, but prevailed in Tuesday's election by gaining the support of right-wing white voters, and emphasizing his Catholic faith.

After graduating from Brown University and spending a year in England as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, Jindal served as secretary of Louisiana's health system.-AFP