Karnataka votes in high-stakes election

BANGALORE, India, May 10, 2008 (AFP) - The southern Indian state of Karnataka voted today in a crucial election Sonia Gandhi's ruling Congress party is battling to win as it faces a potential backlash over surging prices. More than 2.5 million people -- or 15 percent of the electorate -- had trooped out to vote in the first three hours of polling to choose 89 lawmakers to the 224-member Karnataka assembly, election commission officials said.

The remaining seats will be filled May 16 and 22 in a three-phase election the Congress is fighting on a promise to rein in prices, provide a stable government and refurbish the state's shabby infrastructure.

Saturday's first-phase also covers Bangalore, the Karnataka capital and India's "Silicon Valley," where police said they detained some 1,000 people with a criminal record and seized large quantities of cash and liquor stored to buy votes.

About 55,000 paramilitary troops, home guard volunteers and police fanned out across the state to secure polling stations, which opened at 7:00 am (0130 GMT) and were to close at 5:00 pm, Karnataka police chief R. Sreekumar said. Home to 60 million people, Karnataka is the first of a raft of states to choose governments ahead of national parliamentary elections due before May 2009.

Analysts and opposition politicians say Congress may be tempted to bring forward the national vote if the party gains an early political advantage by seizing power in Karnataka. Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, led the party to national power in 2004 on a pro-poor ticket.

Its biggest challenge in the state comes from the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition group, which is making its first bid to take power on its own in a southern Indian state. "If the Congress were to do well in Karnataka, it would be one of the factors compelling early general elections," said political analyst Sandeep Shastri.

"How the Congress fares in other BJP-ruled states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will be another key factor," Shastri added. The Karnataka election comes at a time when the Congress-led federal government is under attack from both allies and the opposition for failing to stem inflation that has risen to a four-year high of 7.61 percent, fuelled by rising food and energy costs.

"Congress makes us pay more," said a newspaper advertisement taken out by the BJP in Karnataka. "Show them the door." "Going by the response to our campaign, I am very happy to say that we are in a position to get an absolute majority," senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu predicted Saturday.

The Congress-led government has urged "patience and faith" in its ability to cool prices, having banned futures trading in basic foods and the export of staples such as rice and lentils."Only Congress can provide (the) stable governance this state badly needs," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday during a visit to the state, vowing to tame inflation. Karnataka elected a hung assembly in 2004 that led to 40 months of political instability under short-lived coalitions.

The BJP governed Karnataka for a week in November before partner party Janata Dal (Secular) forced an early ballot by withdrawing support.