Vote counting underway in India national election

投票在印度全國大選正在進行計數

NEW DELHI -- India's main Hindu nationalist party was making early gains Friday as officials began counting votes following the country's massive national election, with the opposition looking to end the ruling Congress party's decade-long reign.

The Election Commission was expected to announce the results later in the day.

There was a record turnout in this year's election, with 66.38 percent of India's 814 million eligible voters casting ballots during the six-week contest, which began April 7 and was held in stages across the country. Turnout in the 2009 elections was 58.13 percent.

Campaigning on promises of a revival in economic growth, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and its candidate for prime minister, Narendra Modi, were looking to take advantage of widespread dissatisfaction with the Congress party.

The BJP's slick and well-financed campaign also promised better governance. The Congress-led ruling alliance has been plagued by repeated corruption scandals, and the Congress party's 43-year-old leader, Rahul Gandhi, appeared to have failed to inspire public confidence.

Exit polls by at least six major Indian TV stations predicted a BJP-led coalition would win between 249 and 289 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha, or lower house of Parliament. A party or coalition needs at least 272 seats to form a government.

According to the Election Commission, early vote counting for 424 seats showed the BJP ahead in 225 seats and the Congress in 44. The rest were divided among a handful of smaller parties.

The Nehru-Gandhi family, which has ruled India for all but 10 years since the country won independence from British rule in 1947, has been facing its biggest political threat in 10 years. The Congress party attempted to position Rahul Gandhi as a young leader capable of boosting the country's struggling economy, but most Indians see him as being out of touch with reality. His privileged background has made him appear aloof and removed from the concerns of most Indians.

In comparison, Modi's campaign was seen by many as a media and marketing coup for a man whose background ties him to bloodshed in his home state of Gujarat, where communal rioting in 2002 left more than 1,000 people dead, most of them Muslims. Modi is accused of doing little to stop the rampage, though he denies any wrongdoing and has never been charged with a crime.

He managed to hammer away at Gandhi — specifically the perception that he is nothing more than a feudal prince from a family that views ruling the country as its birthright.

By early Friday afternoon, a clear picture was expected to emerge on what India's next Parliament will look like.

If the results are in line with the exit polls and the early trends and the BJP and its allies win a clear majority, India's stock markets are likely to see a major upswing. Already on Friday, the Sensex stock index rose as much as 4.7 percent on news of the BJP's strong showing.

At the party's headquarters in New Delhi, workers were already anticipating victory and preparing sweets to be distributed among the BJP's supporters and allies.

新德里 - 印度的主要印度教民族主義政黨作出了早盤的漲幅週五官員開始計數，下列國家巨大的全國選舉票，與反對派希望結束執政的國大黨長達十年的統治。

選舉委員會預計將在當天晚些時候公佈結果。

有在今年的選舉中投票率紀錄，以六週的比賽，開始4月7日在全國范圍內分階段舉行期間，印度的8.14億合格選民投選票66.38個百分點。出席者在2009年的選舉是58.13個百分點。

在競選活動中的經濟增長復甦的承諾，在反對黨印度人民黨及其總理候選人，納倫德拉莫迪，在尋找採取普遍不滿國大黨的優勢。

人民黨的光滑和資金充足的活動也承諾更好的治理。在國大黨領導的執政聯盟一直困擾著反复的腐敗醜聞，與國會黨的43歲領導人，拉胡爾甘地，似乎已沒有激起公眾的信心。

出口民調由至少六個主要的印度電視台預言了印度人民黨為首的聯軍將249和289個議席中的543個座位的人民院，或議會下院的勝利。一個政黨或聯盟需要至少272個議席組成政府。

根據選舉委員會，早期點票的424個席位顯示，人民黨在前進225個席位和國會在44，其餘少數小黨派之間有分歧。

尼赫魯 - 甘地家族，統治印度所有，但10年該國在1947年贏得了獨立從英國統治，一直面臨著10年來最大的政治威脅。國大黨試圖定位拉胡爾甘地作為一個年輕的領導者能促進該國的經濟困難，但大多數印度人把他看作是與現實脫節的。他的特權背景，使他顯得冷漠，大部分印度人的擔憂去除。

相比之下，莫迪的競選活動被許多人視為一個媒體和營銷政變的人，他的背景栓他在他的家鄉古吉拉特邦，那裡在2002年部族暴亂造成超過1000人死亡，其中大部分穆斯林國家的流血事件。莫迪被指控做一點停止橫衝直撞，雖然他否認有任何不當行為，也從未被指控犯罪。

他設法敲定了在甘地 - 特別是人們認為他只不過是從一個家庭的觀點治國作為其與生俱來的封建王子。

由早期的週五下午，清晰的畫面，預計出現在什麼印度的下一個議會的樣子。

如果結果與出口民調和早期的發展趨勢和人民黨及其盟友贏得明顯多數線，印度的股市很可能會看到一個主要的上升。已經上週五，Sensex指數股指上漲了4.7％，對印度人民黨的強勁表現的消息。