India’s marathon Elections:

More 200mln fresh voters

INDIA: India’s mammoth general election lumbers into its second and largest stage Thursday, bringing in nearly 200 million more voters and the risk of fresh attacks by left-wing extremists.

The latest round of balloting will stretch from the country’s leading industrial state of Maharashtra in the southwest, across the heartland of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty in Uttar Pradesh, to the eastern, Maoist-wracked state of Bihar. The month-long, five-stage election — the world’s largest democratic exercise — wraps up on May 13 with the final results expected three days later.

With neither of the two main parties — the incumbent Congress and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — seen as capable of securing an absolute majority, the likely outcome is an unsteady coalition that would struggle to see out a full term.

The threat of extremist violence was highlighted Wednesday when Maoist guerrillas, who have vowed to disrupt the polls, hijacked a train with several hundred passengers in Jharkand state, neighbouring Bihar.

Maoist attacks on polling stations during the first phase of voting last week claimed at least 19 lives, including 10 paramilitary troopers and five election workers.

The Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribal people and landless farmers, have been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the biggest overall threat to national stability. LUCKNOW, Wednesday,

AFP