Opposition Congress party close to shock victory in India

The opposition Congress party and its allies scored unexpectedly strong gains in India’s Parliament elections as the nail-biting finale to the polls seemed to be heading for an upset.

Congress was so confident it claimed victory after only three hours of vote-counting and insisted its leader, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, would be the next prime minister following the party’s campaign championing the country’s poor it claims are left out of India’s new prosperity.