The mayoral candidate was born in Uganda but is of South Asian origin, though his father’s family came to Africa more than 100 years ago, he said. He justified his choices on the application by saying he wanted to capture the “fullness” of his background — despite the question asking for his race and not his nationality.

“Most college applications don’t have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background,” Mamdani said.

Columbia used an affirmative action admissions program at the time and marking the “Black or African American” box could have given him an advantage.

Adams said his actions were “an insult to every student who got into college the right way,” and called for his admission records to be released and to investigate whether university policies had been violated. Mamdani was denied admission at the university, though his father taught there.

“The African American identity is not a check-box of convenience,” he said in a statement. “It’s a history, a struggle and a lived experience. For someone to exploit that for personal gain is deeply offensive.”

Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told Fox News that an investigation could be warranted.

“This should come as no surprise as Mamdani — his proposals, his funding, and his background — received absolutely no scrutiny,” Azzopardi said. “This issue must be fully investigated because, if true, it could be fraud and just the tip of the iceberg.”

Mamdani officially won the Democratic primary over Cuomo by 12 points, 56% to 44%, in a win few saw coming. Cuomo had been the front-runner for most of the race, even though Mamdani had continually built momentum.

Cuomo is not an official candidate in the general election for mayor, but is considering reentering the race. Adams is currently running for reelection, but is highly unpopular among residents of the city.

The Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa, chose to not criticize Mamdani for his college application.

MAMDANI’S NYC DEMOCRATIC MAYORAL PRIMARY WIN BECOMES OFFICIAL

“There’s so much we can criticize Zohran for … to me, what are we doing here?” Sliwa told Fox News Digital. “We’re making him a martyr. We’re victimizing Zohran and getting away from the issues of why his election would be a threat to New York City.”

Mamdani is a favorite to win the general election in November as the Democratic nominee, despite having Adams, Cuomo, and Sliwa run against him in the general election.