Voting ends in Indian marathon election

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AMRITSAR: An Indian paramilitary soldier (R) checking voters’ identity cards as they stood in a queue to cast their votes at a polling station here Wednesday, during the final phase of polling for national elections. — AFP Photo

NEW DELHI, May 13 (AFP): Voting in India's marathon general elections ended Wednesday, with analysts predicting the emergence of a patchwork coalition that will struggle to survive a full term.
The world's largest democratic exercise wrapped up at 5:00pm (1130 GMT) as polling stations closed in the fifth and final phase of the month-long ballot, which began way back on April 16.
The first voter surveys -- banned from being published during the staggered polling process -- were expected within hours, although the official result will be announced by the Election Commission only Saturday.
Neither the ruling alliance led by the Congress party nor the main opposition bloc headed by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seen as capable of securing an absolute majority.
Saturday's results are therefore expected to trigger a frantic round of political horse-trading as the two main blocs scrabble for new partners among a multitude of regional parties -- all with their own local agendas.
Whatever formation emerges to govern India's 1.1 billion people, observers say it will be an unwieldy coalition that will struggle to present a united front at a time when India is facing a sharp economic downturn and numerous foreign policy challenges.
"There is an absence of national leaders who are able to project the issues and enthuse people. There are no towering personalities to set an agenda for the nation," said political analyst Neerja Chowdhury.
But some voters welcomed the idea of a patchwork administration, arguing that it would be a fairer representation of India's diversity.
"We need a coalition government at the centre as the essence of democracy is better protected by it," said schoolteacher Sumnit Dutta, as he waited for his turn to vote in the eastern city of Kolkata.
In recent days, Congress leaders have made repeated overtures to the party's former communist partners, who withdrew their support from the ruling coalition last year in protest at the signing of a nuclear pact with the United States.
Playing on the image of the BJP as a communally divisive party, Singh said all secular forces had an obligation to work together to keep the Hindu nationalists out of government.
The BJP's candidate for prime minister, LK Advani, insisted that early divisions within his alliance had been more than compensated by the support of new partners.
The only realistic option to the two main rivals would be a "Third Front" grouping of regional parties, but observers say they would be hard pushed to pull together the 272 seats needed to command a parliamentary majority.
The election comes at a pivotal time for India and its 714-million strong electorate.
After five successive years of near-double digit growth that lent the country the international clout it has long sought, the economy has been badly hit by the global downturn.
And there are major security concerns over growing instability in South Asia, particularly in arch-rival Pakistan, with whom relations plunged to a new low following last year's bloody militant attack on Mumbai.
For the more pessimistic analysts, these elections will provide little more than a stop-gap coalition that will fall under the weight of its multiple constituents.