Millions vote in India
2004-04-21 09:19
New Delhi - Up to 105 million people voted on Tuesday as India began the world's largest election, with the ruling Hindu nationalists hoping soaring economic growth will win them a new mandate.
Rebels opposed to the election launched sporadic attacks leaving at least 20 people dead, as up to 60% of the 175 million eligible voters cast ballots on the first of five polling dates, officials said.
"By and large, things were under control. So far it has been a relatively peaceful poll," Deputy Election Commissioner A.N. Jha said.
More than 670 million people can vote, with the results due to be announced three days after the last polling date on May 10.
Exit polls run by television networks said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies remained on top in the 140 seats contested on Tuesday but may have lost ground.
The projections, which were in line with pre-election surveys, foreshadowed a second, post-poll contest in which the BJP or the main opposition Congress tries to form a coalition among small, regional parties.
The Congress party, led by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, charges that India's growth of more than eight percent last year was engineered by nature, not the BJP, and scoffs at the ruling party's "India Shining" slogan.
India's 14th general election since independence, and fourth since 1996, is the first carried out on electronic voting machines in the hope of ending allegations of fraud.
But poll authorities still relied on elephants, horses and boats to transport the electronic machines to remote parts of the country and parties represented themselves with symbols to help illiterate voters.
How to use the machine
In the eastern state of Bihar, the top elected official, Chief Minister Rabri Devi, who is illiterate, was seen on television showing her daughter how to use the machine.
While much voting in India is pre-determined along caste and ethnic lines, the BJP has made foreign policy an issue, highlighting Vajpayee's drive to make peace with Pakistan, including a historic cricket tour of the rival country by India.
The Congress has criticised Vajpayee as indecisive, but is largely supportive of the main BJP planks such as better ties with Pakistan and the liberalisation of the economy.
Of the 20 people killed in election violence, four died in Kashmir including a journalist killed with her taxi driver when their car hit a landmine. Islamic rebels in the disputed territory had called a boycott of the polls.
Police also reported ambushes and bombings by Maoist rebels in the insurgency-hit states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand and by tribal insurgents in far-eastern Manipur state.
In Jharkhand, activists threw stones at the car of Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha who witnessed attempted vote-rigging, an official said. Sinha was not injured.
- AFP