Indian media projections give Congress grouping 250 seats

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Congress Party supporters celebrate their party lead in national elections as they stand in front of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi's residence in New Delhi, during the vote counting process. — AFP

NEW DELHI, May 16 (AFP): India's ruling Congress-led alliance was set to return to power after taking a clear and commanding lead Saturday in vote counting from the country's marathon general elections.
As results poured in from the Election Commission, projections by television news channels gave the Congress grouping as many as 250 seats against 160 for the main opposition bloc headed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"It is a decisive vote for the Congress," said Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, as wild celebrations broke out at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
Although the Congress alliance was still expected to fall short of the 272 seats required for a majority in the 543-seat parliament, its apparent margin of victory was much wider than exit polls had predicted.
A shortfall of just 20 to 30 seats would allow it to pick and choose from India's myriad regional parties to make up the numbers needed for a viable government.
Congress was expected to pick up more than 190 seats in its own right-the party's best showing since 1991.
Outside the party headquarters, supporters banged drums and danced in the street, holding portraits of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Political analyst Neerja Choudhury said India's 714-million electorate had voted for stability.
"I feel that people did not want anything divisive in these times of uncertainty. They felt that Manmohan Singh, being an economist, can handle the economy for instance," Choudhury said.
After five successive years of near-double digit growth that lent the country the international clout it has long sought, the Indian economy has been badly hit by the global downturn.
Exit polls had predicted that only a handful of seats would separate the Congress and BJP alliances-a scenario that had prompted gloomy forecasts of a badly hung parliament that would throw up a weak, patchwork coalition.
The picture that emerged Saturday was of a far more stable government that would be less vulnerable to the whims of its coalition partners.
The mood at the BJP headquarters was subdued as the results rolled in.
"It is disappointing, we expected to do well and clearly we have not done," said BJP spokesman Balbir Punj, who said the party's parliamentary board would meet later in the evening to "take stock" of the situation.
Congress spokeswoman Ambika Soni said party leaders and their allies would meet later in the day to discuss how they would go about building the support they need to govern India's 1.1 billion people.
The alliance will still need outside support to command a parliamentary majority, but a strong lead over the BJP alliance will make its task far easier.
According to the constitution, a new government must be formed by June 2.