A key ally of India's ruling Hindu nationalists was thrown out of power yesterday in a landslide in state elections that are also seen as a pointer for national poll results due tomorrow.
With counting continuing, the opposition Congress party had already won 214 of the Andhra Pradesh assembly's 294 seats by early afternoon, the national election commission said.
PHOTO: AFP
"I accept the verdict of the people," chief minister Chandrababu Naidu said in announcing his resignation as Congress supporters celebrated by handing out sweets, dancing in the streets and setting off firecrackers in the capital, Hyderabad.
Exit polls, which show Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee unlikely to win a majority tomorrow, dramatically underestimated the swing against his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in Andhra Pradesh. Ballots for the state, one of several that held assembly elections in tandem with the national poll over the past three weeks, are being counted earlier because its new legislative assembly must be formed by tomorrow.
The technologically savvy Naidu, who ruled for nine years, bet heavily on his efforts to turn the state into a high-tech center rivalling Bangalore, the capital of India's booming information technology, call center and outsourcing industries.
Despite large amounts of aid and foreign investment -- he also wooed Microsoft's Bill Gates -- the benefits failed to trickle down to the millions of rural poor who ultimately decide the fate of governments in India. Hundreds of dirt poor farmers unable to repay crippling debts have committed suicide in the past few years in the large farming state, which has also been racked by a long drought.
By early afternoon, Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which had 192 members in the outgoing assembly, had secured only 46 seats in what looks like being its worst performance. Naidu will stay on as a caretaker until a new government is formed.
His party was the largest ally in the the ruling federal coalition led by Vajpayee's BJP. The BJP and TDP together held 36 of Andhra's 42 parliamentary seats. Based on early trends, news channel NDTV forecast the BJP-TDP alliance would retain just three federal seats, with five too close to call.
The signs are ominous. At the national level Vajpayee's "India shining" campaign slogan based on strong growth has also failed to impress many of the rural and urban poor who feel left out of the economic boom that has mainly helped the urban middle class.
"It was reasonably clear that there would be some losses in Andhra though I really can't say that this magnitude of loss was ever anticipated," senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley told reporters in New Delhi.
Vajpayee called elections nearly six months ahead of schedule to capitalize on a booming economy, strong gains in state polls and prospects of peace with Pakistan.
Television exit polls after five rounds of staggered voting forecast the BJP-led coalition would win only 230-278 seats in the 545-seat lower house of parliament, meaning it could struggle to form a majority. While that would still leave Vajpayee as favorite to form a government, he would probably have to woo small, populist parties to expand his already large and cumbersome coalition. All votes will be counted, and results announced, tomorrow.
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