The southern Indian state of Karnataka voted Saturday in a crucial election Sonia Gandhi's ruling Congress party is battling to win as it faces a potential backlash over surging prices.
Ten hours of peaceful polling under heavy security ended at 5:00 pm local time (1130 GMT). About 45 percent of the electorate - or more than 7.7 million voters - voted in the first eight hours to choose 89 lawmakers for the 224-member Karnataka assembly, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
The remaining seats will be filled May 16 and 22 in a three-phase election the Congress is fighting on a promise to rein in prices, provide a stable government and refurbish the state's shabby infrastructure. Saturday's first phase also covered Bangalore, the state capital and India's "Silicon Valley," where police said they detained some 1,000 people and seized large quantities of cash and liquor stored to buy votes.
About 55,000 paramilitary troops, home guard volunteers and police fanned out across the state to secure polling stations, Karnataka police chief R. Sreekumar said. Home to 60 million people, Karnataka is the first of a raft of states to choose governments ahead of national parliamentary elections due before May 2009.
Analysts say Congress may be tempted to bring forward the national vote if the party gains an early political advantage by seizing power in Karnataka. "If the Congress were to do well in Karnataka, it would be one of the factors compelling early general elections," said political analyst Sandeep Shastri.
"How the Congress fares in other BJP-ruled states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will be another key factor," Shastri added. Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, led the Congress to national power in 2004 on a pro-poor ticket.
But the party is now under attack from both allies and the opposition for failing to control inflation that has risen to a four-year high of 7.61 percent, fuelled by rising food and energy costs. The state poll is seen as a bellwether of popular discontent against the price rises, which the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says has made "meeting basic needs like food... a losing battle."
The Hindu-nationalist BJP is making its first bid to take power on its own in a southern Indian state. "Going by the response to our campaign, I am very happy to say that we are in a position to get an absolute majority," senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu predicted.
The Congress-led federal government has urged "patience and faith" in its ability to cool prices, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking a vote for political stability in the state. Former Karnataka chief minister S.M. Krishna, a Congress leader, said the party was confident of winning a majority on its own.
"The Congress will rule for the next five years," Krishna said. Karnataka elected a hung assembly in 2004 that led to 40 months of political instability under short-lived coalitions. The BJP governed Karnataka for a week in November before partner party Janata Dal (Secular) forced an early ballot by withdrawing support.
The Congress and the BJP have to contend with the Janata Dal, a significant force in Karnataka, and charismatic low-caste leader Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, which rules India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. The Bahujan Samaj is contesting all Karnataka seats, seeking a southern beachhead, with Mayawati vowing to cut into the vote of both the principal adversaries.
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