| NEW DELHI: The stars trooped out and so did villagers on Thursday as millions of poor and the affluent voted in the third leg of India's general elections that even veteran politicians admitted was destined to give the country another coalition government. Voters queued up outside some 165,000 polling centres in 107 Lok Sabha seats spread across nine states and two union territories in a 10-hour exercise, during which both the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed they would finish on top of a fractured house.
A whopping 144 million voters -- of the country's total 714 million -- are eligible to vote on Thursday.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP prime ministerial candidate LK Advani are among the 1,567 candidates contesting in the third round of polling that will wrap up 372 Lok Sabha seats, leaving two more rounds to go May 7 and 13. The millions of votes will be counted May 16.
Other notable candidates are former prime minister HD Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Communist Party of India's Gurudas Dasgupta and former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh of the BJP.
Even as men and women stood in winding queues in urban and rural areas, overseen by armed security personnel, M Venkaiah Naidu of the BJP and Jayanti Natarajan of the Congress admitted that no single party would get a majority in the Lok Sabha.
"It is going to be a coalition. It is very clear," Naidu said after five hours of voting, echoing a point made by all political pundits even before campaigning got underway in March.
But that did not prevent Advani from claiming that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was confident of ending five years of governance by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
"I am sure the BJP will emerge as the single largest party and NDA as the biggest coalition in the Lok Sabha will form the government," he said after voting at Shahpur in Gujarat's Ahmedabad (West) constituency.
One of India's most experienced parliamentarians, Advani also sought an amendment in the constitution so that the Lok Sabha and state assemblies do not get dissolved before five years.
Sonia Gandhi, who is also the UPA chairperson, is contesting from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.
The third round of polling covers the whole or part of Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, West Bengal, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati was among the first voters in Lucknow, the state capital, and she claimed her party would bag most of the state's 80 Lok Sabha seats.
"I have begun my day with voting, which I have always felt is everyone's prime duty," she said.
Bollywood stars and industrialists turned out in large numbers to vote in Mumbai, India's movie and financial capital.
Early voters in Mumbai's Bandra constituency included Sonam Kapoor, Rahul Bose, Sushma Reddy, Amrita Rao, Sonali Bendre, Aamir Khan and several television stars. Ace criminal lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani voted in Mumbai's North-Central Lok Sabha seat.
In stark contrast to Mumbai's glamour and glitz, scores of impoverished tribals voted in Palghar, barely 100 km away.
"We appeal to voters to come out and vote in large numbers," Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said in Mumbai. "If we don't vote today, we will regret it for five years."
Peaceful, but low voting for Kashmir's Anantnag seat
Polling began on a dull note but picked up in Anantnag in the Kashmir Valley to reach almost 12 percent till 11am., notwithstanding a boycott call given by the separatist Hurriyat Conference. The separatists have called for a 50-hour strike to coincide with the polls.
Nine injured in poll violence in Bihar, 20 per cent polling
Nine persons, including three policemen, were on Thursday injured in separate clashes in Bihar where an estimated 18 to 20 per cent voters cast their ballot till noon in 11 parliamentary seats.
Police opened fire to quell supporters of two rival candidates, who clashed and indulged in heavy stone-throwing, at a booth at Mongra in Katihar constituency, superintendent of police A K Yadav said.
Three policemen were injured in the clash which was triggered by a quarrel over queueing up before a booth, the SP said.
In a separate incident, six persons were injured, two of them seriously, as police used batons when supporters of a candidate clashed with poll personnel following a dispute over photo identity cards at booth number 95 under Baisi block in Kishanganj constituency, sources said.
Two bombs were found from booth numbers 95 and 98 in Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency, but they were soon defused, official sources said.
State election office sources quoting figures available till 12:30 pm, said around 18 to 20 per cent voters cast their votes in the constituencies of Supaul, Madhepura, Purnia, Khagaria, Begusarai, Banka, Araria, Munger, Katihar, Kishanganj and Bhagalpur.
Moderate polling in UP
Nearly 16 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the first four hours of polling in 15 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh today.
"Till 11am 15.79 per cent polling was registered in 15 parliamentary constituencies. The polling has been peaceful so far," election department officials here said.
Acute heat wave conditions sweeping large parts of the state has been attributed by election officials as the reason for the low turnout.
Almost 2.23 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 256 candidates in 15 seats spread over 16 districts of the state.
WB registers 25 to 30 per cent polling
An average 25 to 30 per cent polling was recorded till 11:00am in the 14 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls in West Bengal, where poor turnout was reported from troubled Lalgarh in the Jhargram (ST) seat in West Midnapore district on Thursday.
Among the districts, Malda and Cooch Behar recorded 30 per cent polling, followed by 20 per cent in Bankura, 18 per cent in Balurghat, 15 per cent each in Jalpaiguri and Purulia, and 11 per cent in West Midnapore where Lalgarh is situated.
In Darjeeling, the hills recorded a turnout of 15 per cent and the plains 8 to 9 per cent.
In Lalgarh where 40 booths were shifted out of villages after locals prevented police from entering the area, only one or two voters turned out at many booths.
Around 20 percent voting in first four hours in Karnataka
Around 20 per cent of estimated 15.5 million eligible voters had cast their ballots in the first four hours of polling in 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka, officials said.
Polling has been brisk in the constituencies of Dharwad, Haveri, Bagalkot, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi-Chikmagalur, Shimoga and Davangere with 20 to 25 percent voter turnout.
"It has been dull so far in southern constituencies of Hassan, Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajnagar," state election authorities said.
Balloting began at 7am in 18,452 booths in the second and final phase of Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Among the early voters were Janata Dal-Secular president and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda in Hassan, Kannada film star MH Ambareesh of Congress in Mandya, former central minister B Janardhana Poojary of Congress in Dakshina Kannada, Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and his son and Bharatiya Janata Party nominee BY Raghavendra in Shimoga.
The first phase of polling took place in 17 constituencies April 23.
The poll panel has made elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth voting through 21,610 electronic voting machines (EVMs). More than 2,700 video recorders and digital cameras will record the voting process, added the official.
Around 55,000 security personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order.
More than 50,000 poll officials are on duty with over 5,600 micro-observers to ensure fair election.
In three constituencies, Shimoga, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi-Chikmagalur, women voters outnumber men.
The number of women voters in Shimoga is 701,605 and there are 696,774 male voters; in Udupi-Chikmagalur there are 618,990 women and 584,860 men registered, while in Dakshina Kannada, there are 675,002 women and 658,174 men voters.
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