Indian voters gave a decisive mandate for stability favoring the incumbent United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid growing economic uncertainty and the looming threat of continued terrorist attacks. The Congress party-led UPA emerged a clear winner as votes in the world’s largest electoral exercise spread over a month were counted Saturday. The mandate was divided with no single party securing the required majority of 272 members in the 545-member Lok Sabha or lower house of Parliament.
But the Congress party emerged as the single-largest party in Parliament, crossing the 200-figure mark according to early evening projections by the Election Commission and state-run television.
This was the party’s best performance since it rode to power in 1991 in a sympathy wave following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. According to tradition, the Indian president invites the single largest party in Parliament to form a government and then prove its majority on the floor of the house. Analysts say the Congress party and its pre-poll allies of the UPA will have little difficulty in forming a stable government with the help of just one or two smaller or regional parties.
Most exit polls sponsored by media houses had predicted a hung Parliament with a lead for the Congress party and UPA but certainly not as decisive a victory as came through Saturday. Veteran Congress party leaders seemed pleasantly surprised by the scale of their win, as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders expressed disappointment. The Hindu right-wing BJP leads the main opposition National Democratic Alliance.
“The voters clearly want stability. They want Manmohan Singh to be prime minister. They want development,” veteran journalist and commentator Dilip Padgaonkar said. “We seemed to have missed the undercurrent in favor of stability,” he added.
The Congress party which won 145 seats in the 2004 elections, crossed 200 in 2009, indicating, according to analysts, a move toward consolidation of votes behind major national parties in the quest for a stable government.
“We do not want a repetition of earlier experiences of unstable minority governments failing to last full terms and forcing mid-term elections. There’s too much uncertainty and its not good for business,” Delhi-based entrepreneur Rakesh Sharma said. Congress party leaders claimed their win was due to their policies, their performance and their secular identity.
An obviously pleased party President Sonia Gandhi told reporters: “We thank the people for reposing faith in the Congress party. Eventually the people of India know what is good for them and they always make the right choice.”
Manmohan’s reputation as a man of integrity and his credentials as an economist of repute also helped the UPA. His firm stand on the civilian nuclear deal with the United States even after the left partners threatened and did pull the rug posing a threat to his government has seen him emerge a stronger prime minister.
Some credit for the Congress performance must go to the young Gandhi, who has been working on party reorganization for several years, specially of its youth wing. Party insiders say it was Gandhi’s decision not to agree to a humiliating seat-sharing offer by the regional Samajwadi Party and, instead, go it alone in Uttar Pradesh state, which sends 80 lawmakers to Parliament. The Congress party was set to win 21 seats in the state compared to nine in 2004.
Rahul Gandhi has been a key strategist for the party in the 2009 elections and a star campaigner. Party insiders say in due time he is sure to take up the leadership mantle and is a prospective prime ministerial candidate for the party.
