Phase II: No clear gains for Congress, BJP

24 Apr 2009,

NEW DELHI: Round II of the grand Indian electoral spectacle did little to shake off fears of a shaky coalition government at the Centre as neither the Congress nor BJP appear to have made significant gains in Thursday's polling for 141 Lok Sabha seats. An overall turnout of 55% expected to go up when all figures are in —didn't give political pundits any key pointers to the election, leaving them with their earlier estimate of a fragmented mandate.

The story of a splintered vote and an unclear verdict seem to have infected the assembly polls to two states — Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. For the first time, Andhra Pradesh may get a hung house, say observers. The same is being said for Orissa, even if an edge is being given to Naveen Patnaik's BJD.

Apparently, Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam has eaten into Congress vote in AP, where the turnout was a stunning 68%. It's said that voters in the state seem to have drawn a distinction between the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls with many opting for Chiranjeevi for the state election but Congress for the national poll. In Orissa (55% turnout), Patnaik may have done better in this round but not well enough to muster a majority on his own.

There was some excitement in the Congress as it claimed to have done "very well" in central UP — a state where it has been reduced to a minor player. It's said that apart from Amethi, where Rahul Gandhi is certain to win, the party fancied its chance in the Pratapgarh, Sultanpur and Basti seats. Samajwadi Party, too, claimed to have done well in this area.

In Maharashtra where the turnout was 56%, it's said to have been fairly even between the UPA and NDA. In all, the fates of 25 seats were determined in the state and both the Congress-NCP combine and the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance claim they will get around 14-15 seats, which means they are conceding 10-11 seats to the other side.

A low turnout of 44% in Bihar is said to have favoured the JD(U)-BJP combine. Observers said poor turnout was a sort of endorsement of the incumbent government --- as people were favourably inclined towards the ruling NDA combine, they didn't go out in large numbers to vote against it.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur cast their vote at a polling station in Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency in Assam, where the turnout was a high 62%. The second phase of the five-round elections would have sealed the electoral fate of political biggies like NCP chief Sharad Pawar (Madha), Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath (Chhindwara), LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan (Hajipur) and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj (Vidisha).