Of month-long elections

Indian voters in final stretch

INDIA: India's marathon elections entered the home straight Thursday, with millions voting in a fourth round of polling that saw the two main parties going head to head in a number of key swing states.

The penultimate phase of the five-stage election also brought in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley - the cradle of the Kashmiri separatist movement where polls have long been snubbed as symbols of Indian rule.

A separatist boycott call, coupled with suffocating security, meant a very low turnout in the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar, where voters were vastly outnumbered by the thousands of soldiers and police on duty.

"We have police all over the place. How can you have free and fair elections with these people so close by?" complained 30-year-old Mohammed Yusuf.

Thursday's voting encompassed the capital New Delhi and the neighbouring states of Rajasthan and Haryana, as well as Communist-run West Bengal where sporadic clashes and attacks on polling stations left three people dead.

In the 2004 general elections, the ruling Congress party dominated in Delhi and Haryana, while its main rival, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), took most the seats in Rajasthan.

A significant swing in any of these races could have a major impact, with many observers predicting that just a handful of seats could separate the two parties once all the votes are counted.

India's 714 million registered voters will decide a total of 543 parliamentary seats, in what is touted as the largest democratic exercise in the world.

The election - staggered for reasons of logistics and security - began on April 16 and ends on May 13. Final results are expected three days later.

NEW DELHI, Friday, AFP