Indian Communists were set on to sweep two of five state
assembly elections as votes were counted Thursday, while the chief
of the ruling Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, easily won a
parliamentary by-election.
Congress did not have much else to cheer about in the mammoth
state polls, its biggest electoral test since coming to power two
years ago. Although an ally was winning in a southern state and it
won the tiny state of Pondicherry, Congress was struggling to
retain its majority in the northeastern state of Assam. Losing the
southern state of Kerala to the left was considered a blow.
The state vote, however, was not being seen as a referendum on
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's two years in power as regional
issues dominated campaigns in all states.
Nor were the results expected to drastically change power
equations at the centrer where the Communists support the
Congress-led coalition government.
"Logically speaking, the outcome of state elections should not
have any serious implications for the federal government or for
economic reforms," said T.K. Bhaumik, chief economist at Reliance
Industries Ltd.
"Nobody had any doubts about the Communists doing well in West
Bengal and Kerala. It is not a deviation from the trend."
Communist party chief Prakash Karat said the left would use its
mandate to push more "pro-people measures" in government policy but
would not destabilize the coalition in New Delhi. "The election
results have strengthened the role of the left in national
politics," the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said in a
statement.
Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born leader of Congress, won a
parliamentary by-election by a margin of more than 400,000 votes
from the family borough of Rae Bareli in the northern state of
Uttar Pradesh. It was roughly twice her winning margin in 2004.
(China Daily May 12, 2006)
