The first phase of voting in elections in Indias north-eastern state of Assam, a potentially stiff test for the ruling Congress party, has ended, BBC Online reports Tuesday.
Elections are being held for 65 of the states 126 state assembly seats. Polls for the remaining 61 seats will be held on 10 April.
Congress is in power in Assam, but a regional party and the main opposition BJP are mounting a strong challenge.
And there are other tests to come. Elections in five Indian states are being held in April and May. They are West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry.
In Assam Congress is up against the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the Hindu nationalist BJP and a new party for Muslims, the United Democratic Front (UDF).
– The opposition is divided, so we do not have much to worry, said senior Congress leader Bishnu Prasad. But AGP leaders claimed they would oust the Congress.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself elected to the upper house of the Indian parliament from Assam, promised more federal support for the state while campaigning last week.
The Congress promises to carry forward the fledgling peace process started with the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), despite the killing of several rebel leaders during ongoing military operations.
The Congress is worried about defending its traditional support base amongst the Muslims and the tea garden labourers who constitute more than 40 per cent of the states population.
Assams 28 per cent Muslim population, mostly of Bengali origin, are apprehensive after the countrys Supreme Court scrapped the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983.
The law was seen as a safeguard for them because it prevented arbitrary deportation on suspicion of being illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The UDF hopes to draw away some Muslim support by blaming the Congress for “letting down the minorities”.
Assam has the second highest percentage of Muslims among Indian states after Indian-administered part of Kashmir, BBC adds.
