The leaders of Indias Congress party have thanked the people for returning them to power with a “massive mandate” at the nation-wide elections for Parliament, BBC online reports Saturday.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi said Saturday that they had made the “right choice” and PM Manmohan Singh vowed the party would “rise to the occasion”. Earlier the main opposition BJP and the Third Front conceded they had lost.
State television says Congress alliance has won or is ahead in 263 seats, compared with the BJPs (154), the Third Front (60) and others (66). Congress should now find it easier to form a stable government.
Prakash Karat, the leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the key mover in the Third Front, accepted Congress had won. -The CPM and the Left parties have suffered a major setback, he said.
Several days of backroom deals still lie ahead but the prospect of a very weak and unstable government has receded.
Counting began at 0800 local time and with electronic voting machines being used the first trends were quickly available.
The main thrust of the Congress manifesto has been on economic recovery and boosting growth, while the BJP focused on easing taxation and recovering money illegally stashed abroad.
Turnout for the election has been put at about 60 per cent, compared with 58 per cent in 2004. Indias new 543-seat parliament, with a new government in place, is supposed to sit by 2 June.
