Indian Polls: Not EC going
Hindustan Times NEW DELHI, India, May 13 -- What is common between Narendra Modi, Om Prakash Chautala and Lalu Prasad Yadav? To begin with, they all have a disregard for accepted convention and exhibit virulent arrogance towards detractors. All are either currently or former chief ministers of states that play important roles in national politics. All of them are not yet at the end of their political innings and would thus continue to cast a shadow on national politics. But most importantly,...
ANALYSIS: Local, development issues were key to success in Indian polls
New Delhi (dpa) - It was a day of surprises and setbacks in Indian politics as a 79-year-old prime minister lost the confidence of a billion people and a 119-year-old party made a dramatic comeback to power.Over the next weeks and months outgoing Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will try and understand what went so terribly wrong in its calculations.The party that once confidently claimed it would win 300 of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, or...
Indian Polls: South China Morning Post:
Firm defends ink
Mysore Paints & Varnish, the Indian company which supplied indelible ink for the Afghan elections, has denied its product was faulty.Some Afghans found the ink could be rubbed off, allowing them to vote again. Mysore managing director M. V. Hemanth Kumar said his company's ink had been used successfully in Indian polls for 40 years.He blamed the problem on poll workers mixing up indelible ink pens with those meant for marking ballot papers.His claim has...
Vajpayee's BJP concedes defeat in Indian polls
New Delhi (dpa) - Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) conceded defeat Thursday even before results of parliamentary polls were officially announced. He wanted to meet President APJ Abdul Kalam to submit his resignation.According to results for 490 of 539 seats that were being counted Thursday, the BJP and its allies won 172 seats, the Congress Party and its allies 200, the leftist parties 56 and other regional parties 62.BJP president...