Ami Bera, a California state Democrat, looks likely to make history becoming only the second Indian origin member of the US House of Representative.

Bera, a physician, was nearly 200 votes ahead of his Republican rival Dan Lungren in the 7th congressional district of California at the end of the counting of all votes polled.

But many provisional votes remain to be counted, and they can change the race completely. If squeaks through a victory, Bera will become the second Indian origin member of the the House. A significant milestone for a community of three million. The first was Dalip Singh Saund, also from California, who won two terms starting in 1956. A severe stroke cut short his congressional career in 1962.

For the first time a Hindu-American - Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii - has entered the US House of Representatives.

There has not been any body else since then. Manan Trivedi, another Democrat, who failed to make the cut in Pennsylvania.

Upendra Chivukula, yet another Indian-American Democrat - who has been in New Jersey general assembly since 2002, also failed. Syed Taj, the fifth Indian American running in 2012, also a Democrat lost to his Republican rival in the state of Michigan.