India Elections

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2004-5-14

This is Steve Ember with In the News in VOA Special English.

India's Congress Party has defeated the party of Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee in national parliamentary elections. The
Congress Party and its allies won a majority of seats in the
national legislature. Congress Party leaders will form a new
coalition government and name a prime minister.

The elections were held for five
days over a three-week period that ended on Monday. Mister Vajpayee
officially resigned Thursday following the defeat of India's ruling
coalition, the National Democratic Alliance. The coalition, led by
his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, had been in power for
five years.

Leaders from the prime minister's B.J.P party and its allies
expressed surprise at the election results. Mister Vajpayee and his
alliance were expected to easily win another five-year term.

Mister Vajpayee had organized the election six months earlier
than necessary after a series of political successes. His campaign
noted the country's eight percent growth rate, which made it one of
the world's fastest growing economies. He also won praise for his
efforts to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan.

But experts say the B.J.P. campaign failed to win the support of
millions of India's poor people. India is the world's largest
democracy. But many Indians still live on less than one dollar a
day. The Congress Party and its allies said they would help poor
people if elected. They criticized the government for failing to
provide citizens with jobs, clean water and electricity.

Congress Party officials said India's new government would
continue peace efforts with Pakistan begun by Mister Vajpayee. The
two countries re-opened peace talks last year.

Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi could become India's next
prime minister. But Missus Ghandi is unpopular with some Indians
because she was born in Italy. Missus Gandhi is the widow of former
Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was murdered in a bombing
attack in nineteen-ninety-one. Rajiv Gandhi was the son of former
prime minister Indira Gandhi and grandson of India's first prime
minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Indira Gandhi was India's last female
leader. She was murdered while in power in nineteen-eighty-four.

The Congress Party led by the Nehru-Gandhi family governed for
almost fifty years after India gained independence from Britain in
nineteen-forty-seven.

Sonia Gandhi took control of the Congress Party in
nineteen-ninety-eight as the B.J.P. was becoming more popular. But a
year later, she led her party to its worst-ever defeat in
parliamentary elections. In recent months, however, she has worked
to strengthen the Congress Party. She spoke at hundreds of campaign
gatherings throughout the country. Her son Rahul won his own seat in
the Indian parliament.

In the News, in VOA Special English, was written by Cynthia Kirk.
This is Steve Ember.


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