Indian PM still confident of majority

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.

A failure to give a clear majority to the 11-member National Democratic Alliance would force Vajpayee to give up control of the government or seek support from smaller parties to form a larger coalition.

Some investors fear existing liberal economic policies might falter.

“We are confident that the National Democratic Alliance will get a majority and we will be able to form the government,” Venkaiah Naidu, the president of Vaypayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party, told reporters after a meeting of top party leaders today.

Vajpayee and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh attended the meeting.

Three exit polls by leading TV news organisations have indicated a split Parliament is expected, giving the National Democratic Alliance 250 or fewer of Parliament’s 543 elected seats.

The NDA needs 272 seats to have a majority in the lower house, called the Lok Sabha.

Counting begins tomorrow and is expected to be completed by nightfall thanks to the electronic voting machines used nationwide for the first time.

India’s President, APJ Abdul Kalam, sought expert legal advice today about who should be asked to form a new government if the election results fail to give a clear majority to the prime minister’s ruling coalition or the opposition Congress party, the two largest blocs.

Kalam would normally ask the party or alliance that won the most seats to try to form a government and give it a timetable to prove its majority on the floor of the house.

He can also ask the largest party to provide letters of support from smaller groups and independents to satisfy the majority support claim and then invite them to form a government.

If Vajpayee fails to muster a majority coalition, the president could turn to the next highest vote-getter in the three-week election, most likely Congress, headed by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress party is expected to be supported by leftists and some large regional groups.

Today, the Congress party named a leader for Andhra Pradesh to replace N Chandrababu Naidu, the technology-savvy politician ousted by voters after he helped turn the state into a major software and computer centre.

Naidu was re-elected to his state assembly seat, but his pro-Vajpayee Telugu Desam Party was routed in April 26 elections by the Congress party.

Repolling was scheduled at nine voting stations in West Bengal state tomorrow, United News of India news agency quoted Election Commission officials as saying.

The revotes were called because of fighting between political groups at the voting booths on May 10, the last day of the five-phase election.

Results from only 539 of Parliament’s 545 seats were to be counted tomorrow.

Revoting will take place later in three constituencies in eastern Bihar state because of voting fraud and violence, and one district in Manipur state where balloting was cancelled by a landslide.