Donald Trump wins Republican New York primary

Xinhua News Agency

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New York billionaire developer Donald Trump on Tuesday won overwhelmingly the Republican primary in New York, according to local media reports.

Trump was declared the winner by major U.S. media when all polls ended at 9 p.m. local time (0100 GMT). Early results with 40 percent of all votes counted show Trump won more than 60 percent.

Trump's handy victory in his home state came well within expectation as early surveys over the past few weeks all showed that the current GOP front-runner led the Republican field with a large margin.

However, with results still coming in, it remained to be seen whether Trump could garner all or at least close to the 95 delegates up for grabs in New York.

If voting for Trump tops the 50 percent mark statewide, Trump would take all 14 at-large delegates. The remaining 81 delegates would be allocated based on the share of votes in all New York's 27 congressional districts.

A clean sweep of all 95 New York delegates would be crucial for Trump, as he was seeking a path to garner 1,237 delegates before the contested party convention in July.

Trump entered the contest on Tuesday with 755 delegates, 212 more than his major rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Anti-Trump Republicans had long suggested that if Trump falls short of the 1,237 delegates, he might be stopped at the first ballot at the nominating convention in July, giving Cruz a chance to snatch the nomination from the New York billionaire developer. Enditem