NEW DELHI (AFP) — India's Congress Party basked in its best electoral showing for decades, after steering its ruling alliance to a resounding win over its Hindu nationalist rivals and a second term in office.
"King Cong!" ran the front page headline in the Asian Age newspaper, which joined the rest of the media in admitting it was caught out by the unexpected size of the party's election victory.
Confounding expectations of a close result and a fractured parliament, the Congress-led alliance fell just short of the 272 seats required to command an absolute majority -- a mandate that nobody had predicted when voting began more than one month ago.
With some results still being counted, the alliance was expected to win around 255 seats, with the centre-left Congress party alone taking 200 -- its best performance since 1991.
In the process, it trounced its main rival, the opposition bloc led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which was projected to win just 160 seats.
It also saw off its erstwhile communist partners who had abandoned the ruling coalition last year in protest over a nuclear deal with the United States.
"The people have rejected both extremes -- the left and the right," said Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a political analyst and author of a book on Indian coalition politics.
The victory means a second term for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 76, whose calm, pragmatic persona obviously appealed to voters looking for political stability.
"Singh Still King," was the headline in the Hindustan Times above a picture of a beaming prime minister who called on Saturday for all "secular" parties to join hands in a "stable, strong, purposeful government."
The media voiced a sense of public relief Sunday that the election verdict had been so clear cut.
India has become used to unwieldy coalition governments which expend an inordinate amount of energy on simply staying together and not enough, critics say, on the job of policy implementation.
With such a commanding victory, the Congress-led alliance need be beholden to no one, and will have no difficulty picking up the spare seats it needs to ensure a stable majority.
It can also pursue its reform agenda without the tempering influence of its former partners on the Left.
"Finally, a Free Hand," was the headline of the Economic Times, which hailed what it saw as a landmark result.
"The people have spoken and spoken decisively: voting out confusion, voting in clarity, voting out schism, voting in development," the newspaper said.
"2009 may just be the beginning of India's century -- a year when India dumps its old baggage and looks to the future with humility, unity and hope," it added.
Singh's new government faces numerous challenges both at home and abroad.
After five successive years of near-double digit growth that lent the country the international clout it has long sought, the Indian economy has been hit by the global downturn.
And there are major security concerns over growing instability in South Asia, particularly in arch-rival Pakistan, with whom relations plunged to a new low following last year's bloody militant attack on Mumbai.
US President Barack Obama congratulated India on its "historic" national elections, saying they had strengthened the country's "vibrant democracy."
He said he looked forward to continuing to work with the Indian government "to enhance the warm partnership between our two countries."
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