India's political leaders wrapped up campaigning Tuesday for the first phase of month-long elections that are expected to produce a hung parliament and a fragile coalition government. Thursday's vote will take in large swathes of northern and eastern India, including areas beset by a range of violent insurgencies involving tribal rebels, Maoist guerrillas and Muslim militants. Neither of India's two main national parties - the incumbent Congress and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - is seen as capable of securing an absolute majority. With a myriad of other parties expected to grab up to 50 percent of the 543 parliamentary seats on offer, the final results are likely to kick off an intense period of political horse-trading as the main players rush to pull together a working coalition. The main candidates for prime minister are both veterans. The incumbent, Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party, is 76, while his main challenger, the BJP's L.K. Advani, is even older at 81. The prospect of a shaky coalition of disparate allies is hardly an appealing one, with any new government facing key national security concerns and a steep economic downturn after years of soaring growth. Many of the more than 700 million registered voters are expected to cast their ballots along religious and caste lines or on the basis of strictly regional issues that impact their daily lives. During a rally in Mumbai on Tuesday, Prime Minister Singh urged voters to remember they were taking part in a nationwide election and to elect a “national party which has a reach all over the country, like the Congress.” Advani, meanwhile, played up BJP accusations that the Congress-led government had been weak on terrorism. “It is only a matter of time before the Taleban reaches India's borders,” he warned, accusing Congress of doing “nothing worthwhile” to tackle the terror menace. The campaign has become heated at times, and on Monday the Election Commission condemned unnamed party leaders for speeches “inciting communal hatred.” The regions voting on Thursday include sensitive areas of Kashmir near the Pakistan border and northeastern states on the frontier with Bangladesh. The first phase involves 124 parliamentary seats which are being contested by 1,715 candidates. A group of smaller political parties, including the communists, have launched a “Third Front” in a bid to provide an alternative to the two main national coalitions. The Third Front had been gaining ground slowly in the poll, but this week was down 4 points since the previous week amid coalition problems. The politician Mayawati, who goes by one name, has made clear her ambition to be India's next prime minister and her Bahujan Samaj Party has emerged as a major force in Indian politics, winning control of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. Mayawati is a Dalit, or “untouchable,” who are the social outcasts at the bottom of the caste system.
