India to kick off month-long general election

By Alistair Scrutton

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India holds the first stage on Thursday of a staggered general election that could see the ruling Congress party returned to power at the head of a weak coalition just as the Asian power suffers an economic slowdown.

The left-of-centre Congress-led alliance is battling for re-election against a grouping led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a third front of regional and communist parties.

More than 700 million people will be able to vote from a myriad of castes, classes and regions, ranging from the hi-tech hub of Bangalore to the Ganges plains where some "untouchables" still cannot drink from the same wells as upper castes.

The outcome will be known on May 16 after five vote stages. India's elections are notoriously hard to predict, but many pollsters expect a hung parliament leading to an unstable coalition. Exit polls have been banned for the election.

"The race is wide open," said Yashwant Deshmukh, head of the C-Voter Polling Agency. "The chances of a weak coalition are high."

Many polls tip Congress as the most likely victor, but it could depend on the parliamentary support of an unstable coalition of regional parties.

That could rock confidence in India as it deals with a slowdown that has cost millions of jobs, a rising fiscal deficit and tensions with Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks in November.

India's middle classes may shop with credit cards for LCD televisions in gleaming malls, but politicians are appealing to the millions perceived to have been left out by a boom in a country where malnutrition in some places is worse than sub-Saharan Africa.