NEW DELHI (AFP) — Hindu nationalists are losing ground to the Congress party in elections in the western Indian state of Gujarat but are still expected to retain control, reports said Wednesday.
Quoting exit polls conducted after the first stage of voting on Tuesday, the NDTV and Star News television networks said the hardline Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would see its majority in the state assembly cut.
Out of the 87 seats up for grabs on Tuesday, the BJP was expected to see its share cut from 54 to between 40 and 48 due to gains by Congress, which governs India on a federal level, the channels said.
The remaining 95 constituencies -- where the BJP did well in polls five years ago -- will vote on Sunday, with results expected on December 23.
Star News said the BJP would keep control of the state with 115 seats out of 182 available, while Congress would bag 64 seats at the end of both rounds of polling. In the last elections, the BJP won 128 seats and Congress 51.
The elections have been overshadowed by lingering controversy over riots there in 2002, when Hindu mobs massacred at least 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.
The BJP's state leader, Narendra Modi, has been accused of giving tacit approval to the killings.
Last week he was also alleged to have condoned the recent extra-judicial murder of a Muslim man falsely accused of being a terrorist.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday notified Modi that contempt proceedings had been opened against him for making remarks on the murder case while legal hearings were still underway, a Press Trust of India report said.
Contempt of court is punishable by jail in India but the report did not provide details about any immediate penalties the state leader might face.
The BJP has controlled the tense state since 1995 and has been campaigning for re-election on a pro-development ticket.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
