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Indians cast votes in face of violence
The Australian - April 17, 2009
Amanda Hodge – Violence across India's centre and northeast has marred the first day of a five-stage election, with at least 11 people killed following attacks on polling stations and security forces.
Two million police and security officers were deployed across the country yesterday for the start of four-week national election, which will decide the make-up of the next government as the country faces an economic downturn, internal violence and the threat of terrorism from Islamic militants in neighbouring Pakistan.
More than 714 million Indians are eligible to vote in this year's elections, which analysts say are too close to call.
The Congress-led coalition Government is challenging Indian voters' long tradition of anti-incumbency by seeking a third consecutive term in office.
Its main challenger is the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads its own National Democratic Alliance.
However, the smaller regional parties – and potentially a "third front" coalition of communist and state parties – are likely to hold the key to power, ensuring the next government will be a large and uneasy coalition of competing interests.
"What we need is a government which will pull India through these difficult times," political analyst Rasheed Kidwai said yesterday. "The regional parties which are on the rise are without the national outlook needed at this stage."
Observers say the trend towards regionalism has rendered the election process a mere "semi-final" to the real game, which occurs in the post-poll negotiations between parties to form government.
But independent political economist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta says a coalition government is the best option for a country as diverse as India.
"What is significant is there is a fairly wide area of agreement that cuts across party ideologies on what needs to be done," he told The Australian.
"The ability to arrive at compromises and find common ground between parties and individuals – this is very important in India."
Television footage yesterday showed voters queuing early at polling stations across the country as the first stages of the polls were held in 17 regions, including Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. That state, the country's most populous, is run by the powerful Mayawati – a self-styled champion of the lower castes who harbours prime ministerial ambitions and whose BSP party is likely to be the kingmaker of the next government.
In Assam's rebel headquarters of Diphu yesterday, Monalisa Bordoloi Chakravarty, 30, was among hundreds who defied threats of violence and morning drizzle to cast her vote.
"I am aware of threat by militants," she said. "But one can't stay at home out of fear."
However, Maoist calls for a poll boycott, and the threat of election mayhem, did keep voting numbers low in booths across parts of violence-racked Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Bihar yesterday.
By noon yesterday the rebels, known as Naxalites, had set alight three polling stations in Orissa, fired at several police stations in Chhattisgarh, set off landmines at polling stations in Jarkhand and ambushed a bus full of paramilitary officers, killing seven.
India's Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribal people and landless farmers and accuse authorities of plundering natural resources while providing little to local residents.
Since Saturday, nearly 20 police officers have died in strikes by Maoist rebels, whom Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says pose the biggest threat to India's security.
Hardline Muslim separatist politicians in Kashmir have also urged a boycott of the polls, arguing that participation amounts to recognition of India's sovereignty over the disputed region.
That call has been backed by the Hizbul Mujahedin, Indian Kashmir's most powerful militant group, which warned that anyone taking part in the vote would be "considered traitors who are selling out the blood of martyrs".
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