Congress battles left as India votes in 4th round

Thu May 7, 2009

KOLKATA, India, May 7 (Reuters) - Millions of Indians voted in the penultimate stage of a general election on Thursday as violence marred the ballot in the possible swing state of West Bengal where the ruling Congress-led alliance hopes to win crucial seats.

At least one person was killed in West Bengal after supporters of the Congress alliance and the ruling state communist parties clashed in a constituency outside Kolkata, one of several violent incidents across the region.

Kashmir valley, flashpoint of a 20-year insurgency, went to the polls guarded by thousands of security forces amid a boycott call by separatists. A petrol bomb was thrown at a police station and a few dozen protesters clashed with security forces.

More than 94 million people are eligible to cast ballots in the fourth stage of a month-long vote in which the Congress alliance appears to have a slight edge over the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The election is staggered over a month to allow police to provide security across this nation of 1.1 billion plus people.

Congress hopes to gain the upper hand over the BJP by winning some key seats in the communist bastion of West Bengal where its former communist allies are facing a backlash from poor farmers over their policy of seizing land for industry.

"I think the results in West Bengal in this round of the poll are crucial for the Congress if they want to form government at the centre," said Sabyasachi Basu Roy Chowdhury, a political analyst from the Calcutta Research Group.

The left helped swing the last election in 2004 when its support gave Congress a majority in parliament. But the communists quit the coalition last year angry at a civilian nuclear deal with the United States.

Two key areas vote in the eastern state, Singur and Nandigram, where the communist government tried and failed to set up industry complexes after protests, including a Tata Motors factory to produce the world's cheapest car, the Nano.

Tata Motors pulled out in a big blow to the communists' attempt to woo investors and industrialise a state which for decades had been a byword for heavily unionised industry and pro-farmer policies.

West Bengal accounts for 42 seats, the third-biggest source of seats in the 543-seat parliament.

A tight race across India has sparked fears of a weak coalition government coming to power as the country grapples with the global economic crisis, a spate of militant attacks last year and heightened tensions with neighbour Pakistan.

Both main parties may need the support of regional players to form a government.

There is also an outside chance a coalition of smaller parties outside India's two giant blocs, known as the "Third Front", could win power. This worries many investors who see the group as an unknown quantity at the helm.

Exit polls in the five-phase election are banned, and the results are out May 16.

(For more facts on the vote, double-click on [ID:nISL361214] and [ID:nISL400694])

FRUSTRATED FARMERS

Farmers in West Bengal could turn their backs on the communists, who have dominated the state for more than three decades, frustrated at the state government's policy to convert agricultural land into industrial hubs.

"This is the first time a big dent will be made in the left's bastion," said political analyst Amulya Ganguli.

The tussle reflects India's wider teething problems in its rise on the world stage, which has been fuelled by years of economic boom that is perceived to have left hundreds of millions living below the poverty line.

Congress and the state's main opposition Trinamool Congress party (TMC) have tied up to fight the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) party (CPI-M).

"The CPI (M) goons were terrorising us since last night. Now to scare away the voters they resorted to firing and bombing. But I am going to vote at any cost," Bidesh Das Adhikari, a farmer angry at the left's industry policies, said.

Congress is expected to do well in Delhi and the desert state of Rajasthan, a state which the BJP swept in 2004 but lost at state level to Congress in elections last year. (Writing and additional reporting by Matthias Williams; Editing by Alistair Scrutton) (For a graphic of a Reuters' poll on the elections,