Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday resigned
after his National Democratic Alliance (NDA) suffered a stunning
defeat in general elections, according to the latest report of
Indo-Asia News Service.
India's ruling coalition accepted defeat Thursday after a
stunning resurgence that could bring the Congress Party of Sonia
Gandhi to power for the first time after 1996.
Pramod Mahajan, a key leader of Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), almost conceded defeat
following a dramatic reversal in the April-May ballot the ruling
coalition had advanced in the hope of sweeping it.
But in results that surprised almost everyone, the Congress, the
country's oldest party, appeared set to become the single largest
group in the fractured 545-seat Lok Sabha, the lower house of
parliament, a feat that was considered impossible when the polls
began.
A buoyed Congress, whose president Sonia Gandhi fought a grim
battle in the face of charges that she was a foreigner unfit to
rule India, sought the resignation of Vajpayee and began discussing
the possibility of forming a government.
"Sonia Gandhi is already discussing the terms of the next
government," Congress leader Ambika Soni said as congratulatory
bouquets and messages came pouring in the party headquarters in New
Delhi.
Wild celebrations erupted outside her highly secure residence in
the heart of the Indian capital as hundreds gathered to celebrate
by beating drums and distributing sweets.
Although only 187 results have been declared by 1 PM. With the
Congress alliance bagging 77 and the BJP coalition 54, it looked
like the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would end up
with not even 250 seats.
At least 272 seats are needed to form a stable government, and
BJP leaders had even one month ago confidently asserted that their
total tally would cross 300.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2004)