& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

India’s marathon polls end

2 killed on last day

Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
The curtains came down yesterday on the world's longest and biggest polling exercise with a 62 percent turnout in the fifth and final round of Indian parliamentary elections amidst indications of a badly fractured mandate and a tight race for cobbling a power-winningcoalition.
Two persons were killed--one in a clash between supporters of West Bengal's ruling CPI (M) and Trinamool Congress at Baliguri on the outskirt of Kolkata, theother in Tamil Nadu.
Counting ofvote will take place on May 16.
Political negotiations by both congress and BJP have already begun to cobble a workingand stable alliance.
Even before the first vote in the final round of month-long polling was cast, there were signs of realignment of political forces with cracks appearing in the "Third Front" spearheaded by Left parties with two of its constituents indicating their willingness to desert the ranks.
While Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS), a regional outfit in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, switched over from Third
SEE PAGE 15 COL 3 FROM PAGE 16
Front and aligned with BJP-led NDA, a senior leader of Janata Dal (Secular), another regional party which is also a part of Third Front, met Congress President Sonia Gandhi here Tuesday night sparking speculation about fresh political realignment
Janata Dal (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy had a meeting with Sonia Gandhi at her residence last evening, fuelling speculation of further desertion fromThird Front.
However, Kumaraswamy, son of former Indian Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda who heads JD (S), later told the media that it was a “courtesy call” and Sonia Gandhi did not seek the support ofhis party.
The final phase of polling covered 86 constituencies spread across seven states and two federal territories to decide the electoral fate of 1,432 candidates including Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee, BJP leader Varun Gandhi and his mother Maneka Gandhi.
However, the spotlight of the balloting yesterday was on the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, considered a key swing state where the outcome has determined to a great extend which party or combination ofparties had ruled India since 1996.
PTI, AFP adds: Around 35-40 per cent voting was recorded till early afternoon from Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh and Puducherry, polling was about 30 per cent in Himachal Pradesh and about 16-18 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir.
Neither the ruling alliance led by the Congress party nor the main opposition bloc headed by the Hindu-nationalist BJP is seen as capable of securing an absolute majority.
Saturday's results are therefore expected to trigger a frantic round of political horsetrading as the two main blocs scrabble for new partners among a multitude of regional parties--all with their own local agendas.
"Everything will depend on numbers," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged at a press briefing this week.
Whatever formation emerges to govern India's 1.1 billion people, observers say it will be an unwieldy coalition that will struggle to present a united front at a time when India is facing a sharp economic downturn and numerous foreign policy challenges.