A member of India's ruling alliance was wounded in a one of a string of overnight attacks by leftist guerrillas ahead of the start of elections in the world's biggest democracy.
Voting begins today in the first stage of a mammoth exercise involving in more than 670 million voters, who are expected to give the ruling Hindu nationalist-led coalition a new five-year term.
PHOTO: EPA
Yerran Naidu, a leader of the regional Telugu Desam party which backs the ruling coalition, was wounded on Sunday night after his car hit a landmine believed to have been planted by the People's War Group in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The group, which has killed more than 50 political workers since last October, says it is fighting for the rights of poor peasants, and accuses authorities of repression.
Today's voting will take place in 13 of 29 states -- including Andhra Pradesh and parts of troubled Jammu and Kashmir where Muslim militants and political separatists have called for a boycott of elections.
Opinion polls have predicted a clear win for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition, but a new survey said main challenger Congress had narrowed the gap.
Vajpayee's BJP has dropped its hardline Hindu agenda, and is campaigning on a feel-good platform of strong economic growth, governance and peace prospects with Pakistan.
India's financial markets have soared in the past year on the back of reforms and a strong economy, with the rupee at a four-year high. Analysts say markets are hoping for a convincing victory for the BJP-led coalition that will enable them to push reforms through more aggressively.
Polling will take place on four more days ending on May 10 to allow security forces to move across the vast nation to ensure a free and fair vote.
Police in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh removed landmines planted at a helipad by suspected leftist rebels to stop election officials and soldiers from flying to remote parts of the state for voting day.
Elections in India have been violent in the past, marred by clashes between rival political groups and attacks by insurgent groups fighting for either autonomy for their regions or secession.
In latest polls, India Today magazine said the BJP-led coalition will likely take 282 seats in the 545-member lower house of parliament, more than the half required to rule but far less than 335 seats that the magazine predicted in its first survey in January.
Other polls in the last week have given the BJP-led coalition between 276 and 278 seats, but one poll by The Week magazine gave them just 248 -- far below a majority.
But even if the coalition fails to get a majority, analysts say it will still emerge as the largest group and probably be able to attract smaller parties to form a government.
But main rival Congress, led by the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, says the BJP, which it has long accused of a deep-seated bias against the nation's 120 million Muslims, remains a threat to the country's secular character.
Vajpayee who is leading a coalition made up of more than 20 parties, has urged voters for a clear verdict to ensure political stability.
"Another 22-party government, it will not be good. The country needs stability," he said at a weekend campaign rally in the central city of Nagpur.
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