India once again has a Prime Minister named Gandhi. Not good news for economic freedom there, from what I can tell.
May 13, 2004
Vajpayee to Resign as Opposition Wins India Election
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK TIMES
NEW DELHI (AP) -- India's opposition Congress party captured the most seats in parliamentary elections, according to early results Thursday, a stunning defeat for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that was almost certain to return the Gandhi dynasty to power.
Vajpayee's ruling party conceded defeat, opening the way for Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, to become the country's leader. It was one of the most dramatic political upsets since Indian independence almost 60 years ago.
The results reflected the feeling by millions of India's rural poor that they had been left out of the economic boom promoted by Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.
``We have not got the mandate of the people,'' said BJP President Venkaiah Naidu, adding that the decision was taken at a 90-minute meeting of the party and its coalition partners.
Congress and its allies had already claimed victory and declared that Gandhi, the party leader, would be the next prime minister, after early results showed the party and its allies were ahead of Vajpayee's 11-member National Democratic Alliance.
After more than four hours of vote-counting for 539 of Parliament's 543 elected seats, all television stations cited unofficial figures showing Gandhi's bloc ahead of the governing alliance.
George Fernandes, defense minister under Vajpayee, said the new Parliament could meet as early as Monday.
It was an embarrassing defeat for Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist-led government, which had called elections six months early because it felt confident of winning an even bigger majority in Parliament, based on the roaring economy and prospects of peace with Pakistan.
Before the five-phased elections, which began April 20, Vajpayee and his alliance had been expected to win enough seats to eventually form a government and rule the country for another five years.
But Congress focused its campaign on the country's 300 million people who still live on less than a dollar a day. It hammered away at the lack of even basic infrastructure, electricity and potable water for millions of rural poor.
A leader in Vajpayee's coalition said the results were ``totally against our expectations.''
Gandhi has pushed for a secular India in contrast to the BJP's Hindu nationalist message. Her two children, Rahul and Priyanka, are up-and-coming politicians and state-run television reported that Rahul won his race to enter parliament for the first time.
The Gandhi dynasty dominated Indian politics since independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, headed the country from independence until his 1964 death. He was followed by his daughter, Indira Gandhi, who was killed by her own bodyguards in 1984.
Rajiv, her son and Sonia's husband, took power and ruled until 1989. Two years later, he too was assassinated.
During the campaign, Mahajan had called Gandhi's Indian-born children foreigners and had stoked the debate -- dubbed the ``Sonia factor'' -- over whether a foreign-born citizen should rule India.
Outside Sonia Gandhi's residence, supporters celebrated, beat drums, and set off firecrackers.
``They said she is a foreigner, but people have given them a reply,'' said Rati Lal Kala, 35, carrying a huge Congress flag and wearing a scarf in Congress colors. ``The BJP has only played with the people's emotions. This should be a lesson for them.''
Leftist parties, which have promised to support a Congress-led government, also appeared to be doing well and they could give the opposition the edge it would need to take power.
The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Sensex, opened 3.3 percent lower, at 5179.99 points, in early trading. Within an hour, however, stocks had recovered to hit 5339.81 points, a drop of 0.34 percent.
New Delhi Television -- reporting trends from 535 constituencies, said Congress and its allies would likely win 218 seats, compared to 195 for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led governing coalition, and 122 for others.
With the first official seats reported, Congress and its allies were leading Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party 36 seats to 21, from the 539 constituencies being counted. Repolling was being held in four other constituencies, because of violence and snags with electronic voting machines.
Digital ballots have been compiled at 1,214 centers in major cities and towns throughout this diverse nation of more than 1 billion people.
More than 380 million voters participated in five phases of balloting that began April 20. Forty-eight people died in election violence, less than half the deaths in the last elections in 1999.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press |
