Election in India?

[Verily]

Maybe. The various communist parties have withdrawn their support for the Congress Party government over a deal with the United States to establish civilian nuclear plants (arguing that it opens India up too much to US influence). The Congress Party may well remain in power by calling upon various regional parties that were previously neutral, but this makes their position in government much more tenuous; the government will be 46 seats short of a majority.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7494795.stm

[Harry Hayfield]

Maybe. The various communist parties have withdrawn their support for the Congress Party government over a deal with the United States to establish civilian nuclear plants (arguing that it opens India up too much to US influence). The Congress Party may well remain in power by calling upon various regional parties that were previously neutral, but this makes their position in government much more tenuous; the government will be 46 seats short of a majority.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7494795.stm

I do hope so, I get NDTV 24x7 (New Delhi Television) and they know how to do an election programme (all in English as well). Exit Polls, Battleground Seats and even a VR map of India where seats that change hands literally spin from their old to new colours.

[Sbane]

Wow this is a great day. They have caused nothing but problems for the UPA since day one and there are plenty of other left-center parties to replace them.

[Hash]

I'm interested by Indian elections.

[Hash]

Here, this is quite interesting. I like how they have maps and so forth. Other worldwide electoral commissions should learn from India (cough, cough, Elections Canada, cough, cough).

[Хahar 🤔]

I hope NTV will have some coverage (in Bengali, of course). If not, I'll go over to a friend's house and watch Zee TV. Now that'll be a weird sight.

But the only party that I actively dislike is the BJP (guess why).

[minionofmidas]

I hope NTV will have some coverage (in Bengali, of course). If not, I'll go over to a friend's house and watch Zee TV. Now that'll be a weird sight.

But the only party that I actively dislike is the BJP (guess why).

What about Shiv Sena?

[minionofmidas]

Here, this is quite interesting. I like how they have maps and so forth. Other worldwide electoral commissions should learn from India (cough, cough, Elections Canada, cough, cough).

Elections [enter province name here] has excellent maps.

The ECI only has crappy maps. Admittedly they're all in one place.

[Sbane]

I hope NTV will have some coverage (in Bengali, of course). If not, I'll go over to a friend's house and watch Zee TV. Now that'll be a weird sight.

But the only party that I actively dislike is the BJP (guess why).

Honestly Vajpayee wasn't too bad but Advani is a total biatch face. He represents the Shiv sena/fascist wing of the BJP. They started doing some good things for India I do have to admit. But yeah Congress is vastly superior. The CPM just sucks overall.

[Verily]

I hope NTV will have some coverage (in Bengali, of course). If not, I'll go over to a friend's house and watch Zee TV. Now that'll be a weird sight.

But the only party that I actively dislike is the BJP (guess why).

What about Shiv Sena?

Too minor to get worked up about, I would imagine.

[Sbane]

I hope NTV will have some coverage (in Bengali, of course). If not, I'll go over to a friend's house and watch Zee TV. Now that'll be a weird sight.

But the only party that I actively dislike is the BJP (guess why).

What about Shiv Sena?

Too minor to get worked up about, I would imagine.

Trust me there is nothing minor about the Shiv sena. I fear for India's future if the country embraces them any more. Interestingly the thing that is killing the party is its intolerance of people even inside India. They are Marathi nationalists not Indian nationalists. Of course it boggles the mind why anyone outside Maharashtra supports them, but I guess it is because they are the symbol of anti-islam.

[Хahar 🤔]

I hope NTV will have some coverage (in Bengali, of course). If not, I'll go over to a friend's house and watch Zee TV. Now that'll be a weird sight.

But the only party that I actively dislike is the BJP (guess why).

What about Shiv Sena?

Too minor to get worked up about, I would imagine.

Yup.

[Harry Hayfield]

The leaders of India's coalition say they will seek a parliamentary vote of confidence on 22 July.

[Cubby]

The leaders of India's coalition say they will seek a parliamentary vote of confidence on 22 July.

Interesting. What are the chances that it will succeed or fail?

Hopefully Congress and their coalition can remain in power when the election does happen (sometime between now and May 2009)

[Harry Hayfield]

(Data from Star News and NDTV 24x7)

Current Projection of Votes
YES: Congress + Allies = 274
NO: BJP + Allies = 268
Abstain: Various Inds = 4

However, at 4.04pm local time (11.34am BST / 6.34am EDT / 3.34am PDT), the BJP benches erupted in shouts of "SHAME" as a bag of money was opened and the contents thrown onto the table that seperates the Government and Opposition Benches. The speaker ordered the sitting to be suspended and outside the leader of the BJP alleged that 3 of their MP's had been bribed Rs 1 crore (10 million rupees = $250,000) to abstain in the vote with the promise of another Rs 2 crore (20 million rupees = $500,000) if the vote went the way of the Government. The vote is due to take place at 6.00pm local time (1.30pm BST / 8.30am EDT / 5.30am PDT)

[Harry Hayfield]

The PM is just about to wind the debate up and the vote will now take place at 6.30pm local time (2.00pm BST / 9.00am EDT / 6.00am PDT)

Update: Parliament has been audjourned until 6.30pm local time (2.00pm BST) with a vote due at 7.15pm local time (2.45pm BST)

[Harry Hayfield]

The vote is due to take place in a few moments. According to NDTV's estimates, the tallies are:

YES 272
NO 264
Abstain 3
Government majority of 8

[Harry Hayfield]

The Indian Parliament uses electronic voting and the votes were:

AYES 253
NOES 232
Abstain 2
Total 487 (out of 540)
Aye Majority of 21

The remaining 54 MP's are voting using postal ballots.

[ag]

What postal vote? They even brought MPs in hospital beds in. The results seem to be:

Yes 269
No 267
Abstain 1
Undecided 4
Not voting 2 (including the speaker, who only votes to break ties)

gov't majority of 2

[ag]

The breakdown seems to be:

Yes 269:

Gov't coalition: 223 (including Congress 151)
Assorted allies (partly grouped around the Samajwadi Party): 46

No 267

BJP and allies (NDP): 165
Left: 60
Bahujan Samaj and others: 42

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Undecided [question mark]

[ag]

Actually, they are doing a manual count? Perhaps, some votes didn't register, or smthg.

[ag]

Final results:

Yes 275
Nay 256
Abstain 10

Pretty good for the government, actually

[Хahar 🤔]

I wanted an election.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I wanted an election.

They'll be one next year anyway.