Hindis cast their ballots

2004-05-05 13:13

New Delhi - India's prime minister was one of 107 million eligible voters as the fourth round of staggered elections got under way on Wednesday with his Hindu nationalists battling against predictions they were losing ground.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will be hoping to lead a resurgence for the ruling coalition as voting began in seven states, mostly in his Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Hindi-speaking heartlands.

Balloting in the penultimate round of the five-stage election began at 07:00 (01:30 GMT) at 108 600 polling stations including in Vajpayee's Lucknow consituency, where he is contesting for the fourth time.

More than 100 000 paramilitary security forces have been deployed to bolster police at voting centres.

Voting was also due in the Anantnag-Pulwama constituency of Indian-administered Kashmir, where Islamic separatist groups and Muslim guerrillas have called for a boycott of the balloting in the region's six federal seats.

However, overnight attacks on a total of eight polling stations by suspected rebels saw nine people injured and left polling stations deserted early morning in the town of Anantnag.

Troops have been deployed in force for voting in Nagaland, a hill state bordering Myanmar which has seen nearly incessant insurgency since India's independence from Britain in 1947.

The one million Naga voters will elect their sole member of parliament.

Security was also tightened in Arunachal Pradesh, a vast, sparsely populated mountain state bordering Tibet where some officials have trekked for days to staff polling stations

The powerful All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) has called a strike to protest against 1 497 Bangladeshi refugees being given voting rights.

Eighty-three of the 543 seats in parliament will be determined on Wednesday. The final round of voting will be held on May 10 with results expected three days later.

While opinion polls show Vajpayee is well ahead in his home district, predictions are less certain for his coalition which had hoped a bumper harvest and nascent peace moves with Pakistan would win it a new five-year term.

The latest opinion poll showed the BJP and its allies still shy of the 272 seats needed for a majority but not as far short as exit polls projected after last week's voting.

The main opposition Congress party, led by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, torchbearer of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, put up a stronger fight than expected, painting itself as the defender of India's secular character in the face of the BJP's hardline Hindu background.

"Only Congress can put the country back on the rails of progress," Gandhi said.

Gandhi's son Rahul, running for a seat in Uttar Pradesh, and her daughter, Priyanka, drew huge media attention as they campaigned for the party.

All but four of the seats up on Wednesday are in Hindi-speaking north India.

- AFP