India votes, no clear winner seen
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 17, 2009 00:00
NEW DELHI - India starts its monthlong election that will see hundreds of millions of people cast their ballots in the world’s biggest democracy exercise and one likely to end in stalemate. As the insurgents launch attacks, the vote marks a pivotal time, with a once red-hot economy feeling the strain of the crisis and ties with Pakistan at a new low.
From the southern tropical state of Kerala to the Himalayan foothills of Kashmir in the north, tens of millions of Indians voted yesterday at the start of a monthlong process expected to yield no clear winner as this Asian giant grapples with global malaise.
The vote is the first of five phases in which some 714 million people will be eligible to cast ballots. More than 140 million were eligible to vote yesterday. There were scattered reports of violence by Maoist guerrillas, including six soldiers killed yesterday morning in the eastern state of Jharkhand and three election officials kidnapped, but authorities were hoping for a strong turnout even in India's most troubled region.
Elsewhere, patient voters formed long and often colorful queues to use the electronic voting machines and have their fingers stained with indelible ink to prevent any fraud.
"People want democracy to triumph," Tarun Gogoi, the top official in the insurgency-wracked northeastern state of Assam, told The Associated Press. In an isolated Assamese town, set amid one of the state's most violent regions, 30-year-old homemaker Monalisa Bordoloi Chakravarty was among hundreds of people lining up at a neighborhood polling station. The guerrillas, who are fighting for an ethnic Assamese homeland, insist voters should boycott the election. "I am aware of the threat by militants, but one can't stay at home out of fear," she said.
"As citizens of this country we want basic facilities for development like electricity, water, jobs for our young," Chotte Lal Singh Patel, a village elder from the outskirts of the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.
Media reports indicated polling was brisk in the morning, but that it slowed as noon approached - bringing scorching summertime temperatures that hit 105 degrees Fahrenheit (41 Celsius) in many parts of the country. "The heat is keeping people indoors and preventing them from voting," said Lala Pandey, a voter in the town of Gaya in eastern Bihar state.
Result expected in May
With more than 1.2 billion citizens, India normally holds staggered elections for logistical and security reasons. Results of the massive election, which will use more than 1.3 million electronic voting machines in 828,804 polling stations, are expected May 16. But few expect a clear mandate from Indian voters after a lackluster campaign that has been devoid of a central issue, mirroring a country fragmented by differences of region, religion and caste.
Polls indicate neither the Congress party, which leads the ruling coalition, nor the main opposition, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, will win enough seats in the 543-seat lower house of Parliament to rule on their own. That means the polls will likely leave India with a shaky coalition government. Yesterday, 124 seats in the lower house were up for grabs.
After five successive years of near-double-digit growth, which lent India the international clout it has long sought, the economy also has been badly hit by the global downturn. India's fiscal deficit for the last financial year was six percent of GDP - more than double the target - and 11 percent if the deficits of regional state governments are included.
"Our kids are so desperate for food," said Ruksana Begun, as she cast her ballot in Varanasi, with only her eyes visible from under an all-enveloping black burka. "Everything is expensive and the people here are very distressed by the prices," she said.
And there are major security concerns over growing regional instability, particularly archrival Pakistan.
"India needs a strong government at this stage to be able to tide us over the crisis in particular, besides issues like ties with Pakistan and instability elsewhere," said analyst Rasheed Kidwai. "But it seems that we're going to get a weak coalition that will probably only last two to three years," Kidwai said.
The vote is the first of five phases in which some 714 million people will be eligible to cast ballots. More than 140 million were eligible to vote yesterday. There were scattered reports of violence by Maoist guerrillas, including six soldiers killed yesterday morning in the eastern state of Jharkhand and three election officials kidnapped, but authorities were hoping for a strong turnout even in India's most troubled region.
Elsewhere, patient voters formed long and often colorful queues to use the electronic voting machines and have their fingers stained with indelible ink to prevent any fraud.
"People want democracy to triumph," Tarun Gogoi, the top official in the insurgency-wracked northeastern state of Assam, told The Associated Press. In an isolated Assamese town, set amid one of the state's most violent regions, 30-year-old homemaker Monalisa Bordoloi Chakravarty was among hundreds of people lining up at a neighborhood polling station. The guerrillas, who are fighting for an ethnic Assamese homeland, insist voters should boycott the election. "I am aware of the threat by militants, but one can't stay at home out of fear," she said.
"As citizens of this country we want basic facilities for development like electricity, water, jobs for our young," Chotte Lal Singh Patel, a village elder from the outskirts of the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.
Media reports indicated polling was brisk in the morning, but that it slowed as noon approached - bringing scorching summertime temperatures that hit 105 degrees Fahrenheit (41 Celsius) in many parts of the country. "The heat is keeping people indoors and preventing them from voting," said Lala Pandey, a voter in the town of Gaya in eastern Bihar state.
Result expected in May
With more than 1.2 billion citizens, India normally holds staggered elections for logistical and security reasons. Results of the massive election, which will use more than 1.3 million electronic voting machines in 828,804 polling stations, are expected May 16. But few expect a clear mandate from Indian voters after a lackluster campaign that has been devoid of a central issue, mirroring a country fragmented by differences of region, religion and caste.
Polls indicate neither the Congress party, which leads the ruling coalition, nor the main opposition, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, will win enough seats in the 543-seat lower house of Parliament to rule on their own. That means the polls will likely leave India with a shaky coalition government. Yesterday, 124 seats in the lower house were up for grabs.
After five successive years of near-double-digit growth, which lent India the international clout it has long sought, the economy also has been badly hit by the global downturn. India's fiscal deficit for the last financial year was six percent of GDP - more than double the target - and 11 percent if the deficits of regional state governments are included.
"Our kids are so desperate for food," said Ruksana Begun, as she cast her ballot in Varanasi, with only her eyes visible from under an all-enveloping black burka. "Everything is expensive and the people here are very distressed by the prices," she said.
And there are major security concerns over growing regional instability, particularly archrival Pakistan.
"India needs a strong government at this stage to be able to tide us over the crisis in particular, besides issues like ties with Pakistan and instability elsewhere," said analyst Rasheed Kidwai. "But it seems that we're going to get a weak coalition that will probably only last two to three years," Kidwai said.