Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=5/13/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDIA / P-M RESIGNS (L)

NUMBER=2-315898

BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN

DATELINE= NEW DELHI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: In a surprise upset, India's Congress Party has beaten the party of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in national parliamentary elections. The Congress Party, led by Sonia Gandhi, is expected to form a new government and announce a prime minister in the next few days. V-O-A's Patricia Nunan has more from New Delhi.

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TEXT: Even before all the votes were counted, Congress Party supporters began to celebrate -- beating drums, lighting fireworks and dancing in the street outside the home of Sonia Gandhi, the party leader.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has formally stepped down after results show a shock defeat of the coalition he heads, the National Democratic Alliance.

Leaders from the prime minister's Bharatiya Janata Party, or B-J-P, and its allies have expressed surprise at the outcome. Mr. Vajpayee called the election six months earlier than necessary after a string of political successes. Earlier this year, India reopened peace talks with neighboring Pakistan after months of deadlock. India's economy also grew by seven percent last year, making it one of the world's fastest growing.

Hoping to capitalize on those successes, the B-J-P campaign slogan was India Shining. But analysts say the campaign backfired, because it only highlighted the the poverty still afflicting millions of rural Indians.

Analysts say Mrs.Gandhi, who was born in Italy, is a strong possibility to serve as prime minister. As the widow of the assassinated prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, many Indians regard her as heir to the Gandhi political dynasty. But to others she is unacceptable, because of her foreign birth.

And that might lead to a compromise. Inder Malhotra is a political analyst and the author of a book on the Gandhi family.

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One formula could be that Mrs. Gandhi continues to be the chairperson of the coordination committee of the new coalition that is to be formed. And she nominates somebody else as the Congress Party leader who leads the government. It's too soon to say.

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India is the world's largest democracy. The election took place in five stages over a three week period to accommodate the movement of hundreds of polling and security personnel around the country. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/PN/KL