DATE=10/3/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDIA ELECTION (L UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-254605
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: After five weeks of staggered voting in India,
exit polls show the ruling Hindu Nationalist coalition
being returned to power with a slim majority. The
polls conducted at each stage of the five-phase voting
process were released late Sunday by India's state
television network, at the end of regular voting. At
least 15 people were killed on the final day of voting
in two different attacks by separatist guerrilla
groups, but election officials say overall there was
less violence this year than in past elections.
TEXT: 272 seats are needed to achieve a majority in
India's lower house and the exit polls show Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Bharatiya Janata
Party-led coalition winning a narrow majority over the
opposition Congress Party and its allies.
At stake on Sunday were 118 seats in India's 545-seat
lower house of Parliament. Among the candidates on
the ballot Sunday were Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the
Congress Party, and India's Prime Minister, Atal
Behari Vajpayee. Mr. Vajpayee's B-J-P-led coalition
was defeated in a confidence motion led by Sonia
Gandhi six months ago.
Rain disrupted voting in the village of Amethi in
India's Uttar Pradesh state, where Sonia Gandhi is
making one of her two runs for Parliament. Mr.
Vajpayee voted in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar
Pradesh, where he has achieved huge majorities in the
past, but where this year he has had a tougher race.
Attacks by separatists in the Indian states of Assam
and Tripura and flooding in West Bengal disrupted
voting on Sunday. Election officials say, however,
the disruptions this year have been minor compared
with past elections. India's election commissioner,
M-S Gill, says staggering the election over five weeks
was necessary because large numbers of paramilitary
forces had to be deployed across India's vast expanse.
The election, he says, was a success.
/// INSERT GILL ACUALITY ///
I think broadly we can take some satisfaction,
that in a difficult election with limited forces
because the Kargil situation (Kashmir), and all
the commitments the central police have had to
take - if you look across the country - there is
a little bit more that has to be done tomorrow
or the day after - but broadly things have gone
pretty well under control.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
Mr. Gill says after re-polling is completed in areas
where voting was disrupted, final results will be
available later this week.
NEB/JT/KL
03-Oct-1999 11:27 AM EDT (03-Oct-1999 1527 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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