NEW YORK — The way of selecting a winner has changed, and first-time candidates like Dilip Nath are happy about it.

"I'm very excited for the ranked-choice voting," he said. "I think this is giving an opportunity to someone like me running for office, and it would bring a diversity and inclusion that are so much needed in New York City."

• What Is Ranked-Choice Voting and How Does It Work?

In the first ever ranked-choice voting election in New York, eight candidates are running to fill the City Council seat vacated by former councilman Rory Lancman, who recently took a job with the Cuomo administration.

District 24 includes the Queens neighborhoods of Kew Garden Hills, Fresh Meadows, Briarwood, and Jamaica.

Six of those running are South Asian, a community that, as candidate Deepti Sharma notes, has never had one of its members in the Council.

"Representation matters, it is important," she said. "And that's how you create legislation that's actually going to be representative of the people that you are trying to represent."

• South Asian Candidates Campaign to Make City Council History

In this nonpartisan election on February 2 without traditional party labels, candidates come from all sides of the political spectrum.

Moumita Ahmed has earned the endorsement of the Working Families Party and of former candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon.

"During a pandemic, when we are more closer to being homeless than billionaires," Ahmed said. "I think it's common sense to work for working-class people, elderly people, people who have lost their job during the pandemic."

Some of her rivals are pledging to be more moderate, like Mujib Rahman.

"I'm not a socialist. I consider myself a conservative Democrat," he said.

Also, Jim Gennaro, who, after working for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, wants to get back the City Council seat he had for 12 years. He says experience matters:

"I would be a centrist, I would be a moderate, I think that is a perspective that is needed now even more than when I was in the Council because many, many people have gone very, very far left," Gennaro said.

The other candidates in the race are Neeta Jain, Michael Brown, and Soma Syed.

The winner of this race will serve in the City Council until December 31. There'll be a partisan primary in June and a general election.

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