Poll test for India's ruling Congress party

14 Oct, 2009

Three Indian states went to the polls Tuesday in the first test for the ruling Congress party alliance since it won a thumping general election victory in May on promises of economic reform. Campaigning for state elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh focused on relief for drought-hit areas after a poor monsoon, electricity shortages, unemployment and rising food prices.
The Congress power trio of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi toured the states ahead of voting, with much attention focused on the vast city of Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra. Key concerns in Maharashtra range from improving security after the Mumbai attacks last year in which 166 people died, the recent slowdown in economic growth, and rural poverty that has triggered a spate of farmer suicides.
"There is no single decisive vote factor," Kumar Ketkar, analyst and editor of Marathi newspaper Loksatta, told AFP, describing the campaign as "bitter and chaotic". Voting on Tuesday was largely peaceful, though police said Maoist rebels opened fire at one polling booth near where 17 officers were gunned down last week.
The Congress alliance has ruled for 10 years in Maharashtra, and Ashok Chavan was battling to retain the chief minister role that he took over soon after the attacks on Mumbai. The main opposition is an uneasy alliance between two Hindu nationalist parties - the regional right-wingers Shiv Sena, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who have struggled since their heavy defeat in national elections. About 90 million people were eligible to vote in the elections, with the result due to be announced on October 22.

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