INDIA ENDS FINAL PHASE POLLING, RESULTS ON SATURDAY

BY P.VIJIAN

NEW DELHI, May 14 (Bernama) -- India Wednesday concluded the five-phase
general election without any major political violence but needs to wait until
Saturday for the poll results.

Nearly 107 million voters cast their votes across seven states and two union
territories in the final phase of the 15th Lok Sabha or parliamentary election.

Polling was held in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu,
Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand and West Bengal, and two union territories of
Chandigarh and Pondicherry.

Tamil Nadu in south India, with 39 seats out of the 543 parliamentary seats,
had been in the limelight in the final phase of the elections -- where Home
Minister P. Chidambaram and S. Jayalalitha, the former actress turned
politician, are among the key contestants.

"I will go to New Delhi based on the results. If the results turn out to be
as I expect, I will go to Delhi," Jayalalitha, leader of the All India Anna
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), told the media after casting her vote in
Chennai Wednesday.

Like in the previous poll, election pundits predict there would not be a
single majority in this election and key parties like the Congress or the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may have to cobble up a coalition to come to power
in Delhi.

Widespread horse-trading is going on, where regional parties are likely to
be king makers, including Jayalalitha, who is confident of defeating her
archrival and current Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi's Dravida
Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) party.

Jayalalitha, the fearless south Indian politician known for her vocal
political tirades, was the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

The main players in the fray are Congress-led United Progressive Alliance,
BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and the Third Front, dominated by the Left
parties.

A total of 714 million people had been listed to cast their votes in this
month-long election.
-- BERNAMA