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MUMBAI, Oct 13: India's ruling centre-left Congress party was heading for a narrow win in elections in the key western state of Maharashtra that is the heart of business and Bollywood, two television exit polls showed on Wednesday.
It was the first major test for Sonia Gandhi's Congress party since its victory over the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in general elections five months ago. But one exit poll broadcast on Wednesday night by the respected NDTV 24x7 channel said the race in Maharashtra, the country's second most populous state, was too close to call, with the BJP marginally ahead of its main rival.
Both the Congress and the BJP tried to win the rural and urban poor, whose support for Congress probably made the difference in May. But the BJP, whose support has traditionally come from Hindu nationalists and the middle class, seems to have failed to mount an inspiring campaign after its morale-sapping national defeat.
"The BJP's hope of recovering from the May parliament election will be delivered a shattering blow if the exit polls are correct or even nearly correct," said Inder Malhotra, a former editor of the Times of India.
Business leaders and Bollywood film stars were among tens of millions of Indians who turned out to vote in Maharashtra, India's second-most populous and industrialized state.
The state is a plum one to rule. It accounts for 12 per cent of gross domestic product, pays two-thirds of all corporate taxes and 37 per cent of India's personal income taxes.
Television exit polls released just after polls closed at 5:30pm (1200 GMT) predicted Congress and its allies would come close to retaining their majority in the assembly in Mumbai, home to India's finance and film industries.
Malhotra said that result, if confirmed, would be a big boost for Gandhi's Congress party at the national level and help stabilize Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's five-month-old minority government as it seeks to push through economic reforms.
EXIT POLLS UNRELIABLE: Exit polls are notoriously unreliable in India and failed to predict the Congress victory nationally in May. Counting begins on Saturday and results are expected the same day.
The BJP is looking for a comeback in Maharashtra, whose population of 100 million is equivalent to that of Germany and the Netherlands combined. Away from the skyscrapers of Mumbai, hundreds of slum dwellers queued under a hot sun to cast their votes in a chance to seek a change for the better in their living conditions.
In Dharavi, home to more than 600,000 people, drivers, industrial labourers and housewives came out to vote in their work clothes while members of a fishing community turned up in colourful floral sarongs and garish jewellery.
Exit polls conducted by Headlines Today and Star News showed Congress and its allies winning between 140 and 150 seats in the 288-seat state assembly, against 100 to 119 for Hindu nationalist opposition parties.
Congress and allies held 149 seats in the outgoing assembly. Independents could hold the balance of power with between 20 and 40 seats, the polls predicted. Analysts say many would gravitate towards the most powerful bloc in the assembly, which would be given the first chance to form a government. -Reuters
