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| Thursday, 22 April 2004 |
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Hindu nationalists ahead but lose ground: exit polls NEW DELHI, Wednesday (AFP) India's ruling Hindu nationalists were ahead of the main opposition Congress party but seemed to lose ground in the first of five rounds of the national elections television projections said. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies were leading the main opposition Congress party by anywhere between 23 and 49 seats in the 140 constituencies that voted Tuesday, according to surveys by three private networks. The BJP-led coalition was defending 91 seats compared with 43 for the Congress and its allies, a 48-seat margin. Six seats were held by legislators uncommitted to either bloc. If the prediction holds true for the next four phases of voting, the BJP would again need to form a coalition in the 545-seat parliament. A forecast based on voter surveys by NDTV channel said the BJP-led coalition would end up with 260 to 280 seats, putting it in danger of slipping below the 273 majority needed to rule. It said the BJP and allies would get 70 to 80 seats in the first round of voting, lower than the 90 seats it won in the same seats in the previous general election. Vajpayee has ruled since the 1999 election, holding together an often unwieldy alliance that at times reached two dozen parties. He has said he is unenthusiastic about another coalition government. The Congress party had objected to the airing of exit polls, which have been criticised in past elections for inaccuracy. But neither the courts nor the Election Commission ordered a halt to exit polling. The final round of elections is due May 10 with results to be announced three days later. Some 670 million people are eligible to vote in the five-phase election, the largest democratic exercise in the world. |
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