DATE=10/4/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDIA ELECTION-MONDAY (L)
NUMBER=2-254618
BYLINE=NEW DELHI
DATELINE=JIM TEEPLE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Exit polls in India, following a month-long
election, indicate the ruling Hindu nationalist-led
coalition government will be able to form a new
government. Vote counting begins on Wednesday after
re-polling Monday and Tuesday in areas where the
election was disrupted. There were about 40 deaths
related to election violence in the final round of
voting and about 100 deaths overall over the past
month, but as VOA's Jim Teeple reports, there was much
less election violence this year than in past
elections.
Text: A series of exit polls give a mixed picture of
the election results. India's state-run television
network says the National Democratic Alliance - a
coalition of more than 20 parties led by Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee - will have a majority
of about a dozen seats in India's 545-seat lower house
of Parliament. Two other private polls have
contradictory results, with one showing the Prime
Minister having a significantly larger majority, and
the other showing him losing seats, and no party
emerging with a majority.
Security was the top priority for election officials
and they defend staging the voting over five
consecutive weeks even though critics charge the
staggered polling led to voter disinterest and too
much campaigning. M-S Gill, India's Election
Commissioner says the staggered vote was necessary
because of security concerns - especially in Kashmir -
and also because of India's Monsoon season which
arrived late this year.
//GILL ACTUALITY //
The enhanced difficulty of less forces than before
from the government of India - from the Home Ministry
- because they are overcommitted in Kashmir. And you
add to that the difficulty of a Monsoon season which
is not ideal. From July, August and even September
those are all awkward months, this is only the tail of
the Monsoon, and tragically the tail lingered.
//END ACTUALITY //
Heavy rains and flooding disrupted voting in India's
West Bengal State on Sunday.
Election officials say about 55-percent of India's
605-million eligible voters cast their ballots this
year, the third election in three years. They say,
because of the increasing frequency of elections,
voter turnout is dropping - especially in urban areas.
The main contest in this year's election was between
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata
Party-led coalition and Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party
and its allies. Mrs. Gandhi, the Italian-born widow
of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, brought down
Mr. Vajpayee's government six months ago in a
parliamentary vote of confidence but was unable to
form a government on her own, forcing national
elections. (Signed)
neb/jlt/plm
04-Oct-1999 04:32 AM EDT (04-Oct-1999 0832 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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