Joe Biden's India connection remains a mystery as citizens try to dig links

The United States President-elect Joe Biden's win has sparked a genealogical search in India, where people have started hunting for potential relatives of the former US vice-president. Ever since Joe Biden has been projected winner of the recently concluded US elections, a family in Maharashtra, India, that shares the same name with the Democratic candidate has been overwhelmed with congratulatory calls and messages. 

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Even in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, which is home to Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris' relatives, saw people clicking selfies with a plaque commemorating a 19th-century British ship captain named Christopher Biden, thinking it to be the Delaware Senator's distant relative. People have been trying to establish a local connection with Biden, more so, because he had once talked about a letter from someone in India with the same name, who congratulated him for winning the 1972 US Congress election and mentioned about a mutual great, great, great grandfather who had served in the British East India company. 

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Biden had mentioned  in the letter in 2013, during his visit to India as the US vice-president. However, so far, the speculation of Biden's India connection has not been proven and it remains unclear whether the former vice-president has any relatives in the country. But one thing which is crystal clear is the President-elect's deputy Kamala Harris does have roots in India. 

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US elections

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were projected winners of the US presidential election on November 7, after the 77-year-old leader secured a lead in Pennsylvania. However, Trump has refused to concede defeat to Biden and his campaign has filed a series of lawsuits in several states demanding to stop the count of late-arriving ballots. Trump has accused poll officials of illegally counting the votes that arrived after 8 p.m. on the final voting day, particularly in Pennsylvania. But state court had earlier allowed the counting of late-arriving ballots for three days after the final voting day, unless they are stamped on November 3. 

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(Image Credit: AP)