Path clear for Trump to become Republican nominee

Billionaire estate mogul turned politician Donald Trump is now close to grabbing the ticket for the race to contest in the next presidential elections as the path is now clear for him to become the substantive Republican nominee.

Trump now emerges as the presumptive Republican nominee after his main rival Ted Cruz bowed out of the race for presidential nomination.

The controversial businessman cruised to a crushing win over Cruz in Indiana which forced his rival out of the race for Trump who has gone from long-shot contender to the Republican party's presumptive nominee for president.


"We're going to win in November, and we're going to win big, and it's going to be America first." Trump promised while addressing jubilant supporters at Trump Towers after he romped to his seventh state-wide victory.

Trump won at least 51 of 57 possible delegates awarded in Indiana, according to the Associated Press news agency delegate tracker. His victory in the state pushed him to 1,047 delegates of the 1,237 needed to clinch the nomination, compared with 153 for Kasich.

Cruz had 565 delegates before suspending his campaign.

"Cruz spent about $2.8m of his own campaign money to advertise in Indiana. Super PACs spent $2m for Cruz, while Trump just spent $900,000," Peter Mathews, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera.

"This phenomenon is just amazing. Trump seems to have got free television time. He got an estimated about $1bn of free time all this time during the election." Peter added.