Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ruling coalition said it was “confident” it would secure a majority in Parliament when final election results are counted tomorrow, though exit polls indicated a hung legislature was likely.

India held the fifth and final phase of the world’s largest democratic election today, amid doubts over whether Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be returned to power with a stable government.

Police armed with video cameras and soldiers with automatic rifles were among a million security forces on alert in 16 Indian states for today’s voting in the fifth and final phase of three-week Parliament elections in the world’s largest democracy.

An opinion poll ahead of tomorrow’s penultimate phase of India’s general elections showed Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s coalition surging ahead of its rivals, but falling short of a majority in parliament.

G.M.C. Balayogi, the speaker of the Indian Parliament’s lower house, was killed today in a helicopter crash in southern India where he had attended a peace rally. He was 50.

India’s parliament in New Delhi today stood in silence in memory of six security officers and a gardener killed in a suicidal terrorist attack on the legislative building.

A private plane carrying eight passengers, including opposition Congress party leader Madhavrao Scindia, crashed today in northern India, police said.