India’s ruling Congress wins key state polls
INDIA: India’s ruling Congress Party led Thursday in the vote
count from three state elections seen as the first major test of its
national leadership, official figures showed.
In the key state of Maharashtra — home to India’s financial capital
Mumbai — the Congress and its ally were ahead in 142 out of 288 seats
which would allow the grouping to form a government with only limited
outside help.
An alliance of the main opposition, Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) and the hardline Hindu party Shiv Sena, was leading
in just 91 seats, according to the figures provided by the Election
Commission.
Maharashtra states Chief Minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan
said the party and its allies were heading for their third straight
five-year term.
“People have shown confidence, placing us in a position to form a
government,” Chavan told reporters as Congress party workers waved party
flags and lit fireworks outside the state party office in Mumbai. The
result was ahead of exit poll predictions which had put Congress at
127-139 seats.
Key concerns in Maharashtra included improving security after the
Mumbai attacks last year in which 166 people died, the recent slowdown
in economic growth, and rural poverty that has triggered a spate of
farmer suicides. Congress also secured an easy victory in the remote
northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, where campaigning focused on
relief for drought-hit areas after a poor monsoon season. But the party
was ahead by a much smaller margin in the northern Haryana state, where
it won 40 out of 90 seats — far below its 2005 performance, when it won
67 seats. Electricity shortages, unemployment and high food prices were
among voter issues as the Congress power trio of Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi toured the
states ahead of voting on October 13.
Analysts said Maharashtra was the big prize, but wins in all three
states would be seen as a vote of confidence in the Congress-led
coalition following its resounding general election victory in May.
MUMBAI, Friday, AFP |
