India's marathon election entered its decisive leg yesterday with two generations of the Gandhi family seeking seats, their Congress party predicted to narrow the lead of the ruling Hindu nationalists.
Six people were killed and 15 injured in sporadic election violence including seven in an attack on a voting station in Kashmir's insurgency-torn summer capital Srinagar, officials said.
PHOTO: AP
More than 172 million people are eligible to choose from 1,278 hopefuls in 11 states but all eyes were on opposition leader Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul, 33, contesting in the vote-rich northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Exit polls since voting began April 20 have shown a lead for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's coalition, but by a slimmer margin than predicted before the start of the election, which ends May 10.
Vajpayee acknowledged the polls could no longer be seen as smooth sailing for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which called the vote early hoping to cash in on strong economic growth and a peace process with Pakistan.
"Our supporters have taken it for granted that there is no contest. It [the perception] should not be there," Vajpayee told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Voting is being watched particularly closely in Uttar Pradesh, which returns 80 MPs to the 545-seat parliament, with regional parties expected to outperform the two main adversaries.
Rahul Gandhi is seeking to become the fourth MP from the dynasty as he stands for election in the Uttar Pradesh constituency of Amethi, the stronghold of his grandmother, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984.
Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress party, is standing in nearby Rae Bareilly. She has gone on the offensive by saying the rural poor feel "gloom and distress," not the "India Shining" described by the BJP, which has campaigned on the country's booming high-tech industry.
But Gandhi, the 57-year-old widow of slain former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, remains dogged by criticism that she would be unacceptable to lead India as she is Italian by birth.
Security personnel were out in thousands in Srinagar where initial turnout at 1,080 voting stations was low in view of fears of reprisals by Islamic guerrillas who oppose the election, officials said.
But an election office spokesman in Srinagar said people had started queuing up at voting stations at outlying points in the district.
The Srinagar-Budgam segment recorded a 12 percent turnout in the last national election in 1999, the lowest in the state.
Businesses were shuttered and streets deserted in Srinagar following a call for a general strike by separatists.
Four people were killed in attacks in far-eastern Manipur, while two more died in the adjoining states of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
Results of the elections would be out three days after the final leg of balloting on May 10.
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