India: Nationalist Win At Polls
A rag-tag coalition led by Hindu nationalists probably won India's parliamentary elections that ended Sunday, giving the nation the chance of its first stable government in three years, exit polls predicted.
Two exit polls conducted by television networks at the end of the world's biggest election said the Bharatiya Janata Party, headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, would return to power with help from 21 parties in its campaign alliance.
The main rival Congress Party -- led by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi -- and its allies placed second, but with too few seats to form a government.
Results of the five-phase, month-long election, in which 605 million Indians were given the opportunity to vote, are expected this week after the ballots are counted.
Vajpayee will probably return as prime minister, a post he held for 13 months before his minority government was toppled in April by a no-confidence vote in parliament, forcing India into its third election since 1996.
The BJP had two seats when it first entered the parliament in 1984, and has gained strength on a platform of Hindu nationalism. However, with Vajpayee at the helm of a coalition government, the party has not pursued many of its more radical issues.
An exit poll conducted for state-run Doordarshan television by Development Research Survey gave Vajpayee's coalition, the National Democratic Alliance, 287 seats. That's slightly more than half the 543 elected seats in parliament needed to form a government.
Another poll, conducted by Insight Ltd. for the private STAR-TV network, said the alliance would win 295 to 305 seats. Both exit polls, which have a margin of error of one percentage point, were conducted on the five voting days that began Sept. 3.
A handful of districts will vote Monday and Tuesday and on Oct. 28. Flooding, the assassination of candidates and electoral fraud required postponements or re-votes.
Â"We can take some satisfaction that with a difficult election with limited forces ... it's gone off very well,Â" said Chief Election Commissioner Manmohar Singh Gill.
Ninety-five people were killed since the voting process began Sept. 3, but that death toll was far below past elections. Most deaths came in clashes between rival party supporters and in attacks by separatist militants trying to enforce election boycotts.
On Sunday, about half a million armed soldiers, police and government officials were deployed in 10 states to ensure safe and fair elections, Gill said. Still, 39 people died over the weekend, mostly in shootings and bombings by separatist rebels in three northeastern states.
Just over half of registered voters cast ballots in the election, Gill said. Voter turnout has decreased rapidly in recent years, partly because of the frequency of elections.
Participation was even lower this year as most candidates traded insults intead of discussing basic issues, such as clean water, health, education and employment.
The BJP launched a bitter campaign against Gandhi, saying Indians should be ashamed to choose a Â"foreignerÂ" for the top job. She took Indian citizenship 18 years after her 1968 marriage.
Gandhi, in turn, portrayed the BJP as a group promoting religious fanaticism and its allies as political opportunists.
For most of its 52 years of independence, the Congress party governed India. But its popularity has eroded over the years as its leaders have gotten embroiled in scandals. That's allowed regional parties that have championed local issues to gather more support.
By Krishnan Guruswamy
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