960427

Nearly 100 mln

cast votes in

first round of

Lok Sabha polls

NEW DELHI: Nearly 100 million Indians voted on Saturday in the first round of general elections which Hindu nationalists predict will end decades of dominance by the ruling Congress (I) party.

Around 60 percent of the 160 million eligible voters cast their ballots in the 150 parliamentary constituencies at stake Saturday in the world's largest democracy, election officials said.

Scattered incidents of violence were reported, including clashes in Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's home state of, Andhra Pradesh, but the election passed off smoothly in most, areas, they said.

Men and women braved searing summer heat to form long queues outside scores of school buildings converted into 175,000 polling stations in 10 of India's 25 states and four federal territories, domestic news agencies said.

Early voters in New Delhi included Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's and daughter and son.

The rest of the 600-million-strong electorate will vote on May 2 and 7 to fill the remaining 395 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha.

Congress spokesman Ved Prakash said a last-minute surge of voter support would carry India's oldest political party, which has ruled virtually uninterrupted since independence in 1947, to a "thumping majority."

He dismissed as "false propaganda" polls which have predicted a hung parliament in which the Hindu nationalist BJP would be the largest single party.

The United News of India (UNI) said violence was reported in about half of the 42 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh.

Three people were injured in a clash between rival factions at Cuddapah in Andhra Pradesh and crude bombs exploded in at least three other villages, causing no casualties, the news agency added.

In the far eastern state of Assam, polling was suspended in six places after ballot papers were stolen, UNI reported.

Voters were also picking state legislatures in four states and one federal territory on Saturday in elections supervised by one million officials and tens of thousands of police and paramilitary troops.

Premier Rao continued his hectic campaigning on Saturday, touring the eastern state of West Bengal where he pressed voters to vote out the communists who have been in power since 1977.

Counting of the millions of votes will begin on May 8, and a clear picture of the electoral outcome will be known in 48 hours from then.

A new government is likely to take office by the middle of May.-AFP