Bernie Sanders wins Indiana Democratic primary

US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Tuesday was projected to win the Indiana primary as he was seeking momentum to catch up with Hillary Clinton's almost insurmountable delegate lead.

Early results with 93.3 percent of all votes counted show Sanders won 52.7 percent, compared to Clinton's 47.3 percent.

Mathematically, Sanders' win in Indiana did not change the contour of the Democratic race where Clinton continues to hold a strong delegate lead.

Unlike the Republican presidential nomination contests, Democratic races allocate pledged delegates proportionally. Thus, Sanders' win on Tuesday in Indiana, where 83 pledged delegates were up for grabs, did little to put a dent in Clinton's delegate lead.

Clinton entered the contest on Tuesday with 1,663 pledged delegates, 296 more than Sanders, according to a delegate count by The New York Times.

Also, Clinton was currently being supported by an overwhelming majority of superdelegates, a group of about 700 Democratic party leaders who could vote for any candidate in the Democratic convention in July.

However, the win could bolster Sanders' pledge to stay in the race through the Democratic National Convention in July despite the claim by the Clinton campaign that the race was now over.

While many Clinton's backers were exasperated by Sanders' refusal to drop out of the race now and blasted the senator from Vermont for damaging party unity, a new NBC News/Survey Monkey poll showed on Tuesday that 57 percent of Democrats now said that Sanders should stay in the race through the Democratic convention in July.

Source: XINHUA