Prime Minister and UPA leader Manmohan Singh has declared victory, while their opponents Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the left-wing parties have accepted defeat.

Opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani, projected Prime Ministerial candidate by the BJP, has resigned as opposition leader owing to the party’s unprecedented defeat in the national polls.

“I express my deep sense of gratitude to the people of the country for the massive mandate they have given the alliance”, PM Singh said as results indicated his alliance had achieved a sweeping – and surprising – success in the month long polls that will keep him in power for another term, Associated Press reported.

The Hindu nationalist BJP, the country’s other main party, failed to convince voters to change the national leadership during a time of economic uncertainty and regional instability.

“We accept the people’s verdict,” said Arun Jaitley, a senior BJP leader. “Certainly something did go wrong.”

News channels called the election in Congress’ favor based on more than 70 percent of votes counted.

The CNN-IBN channel said the Congress-led alliance could win 258 seats in the 543-seat Parliament, and the BJP-led alliance could take 162. It projected that the Congress party alone – without the support of its coalition allies – would take 198 seats, putting it far ahead of all other parties. Other channels predicted similar results in the massive vote – the largest in the democratic world – which for logistical and security reasons was held in five phases between April 16 and May 13.

If counting trends continue the same direction, it would be a clear victory for the Congress coalition – but would still leave it short of the 272 seats needed to govern alone and it would require the support of other parties. India has been ruled by coalition governments for most of the last two decades. However, the results appeared far better for Congress than nearly everyone expected. For months, polls and political observers have predicted that neither of the country’s two main parties would emerge a clear winner, forcing an unstable and unwieldy coalition that could have conceivably included dozens of smaller parties.

Things now appear far clearer: Congress “seems to have the upper hand,” said Venkaiah Naidu, a BJP leader.

The “Third Front,” an alliance of communist, regional and caste-based parties that had banded together – and which for a time had been seen as a wild card that could emerge with immense power – appeared to have done poorly. Most news stations predicted they would win less than 80 seats.

As results came in, celebrations erupted outside the Congress party headquarters. Party workers set off fireworks and danced in the streets carrying posters of party leader Sonia Gandhi.

“We have won a thumping majority,” Congress activist Parag Jain said outside the party offices, in a leafy, elegant south New Delhi neighborhood. “Successful rule begins and ends with Congress and the Gandhi family.”

The BJP’s office compound offered a somber contrast, as supporters and party workers held quiet discussions inside the shuttered gates, decorated with the party symbol of a lotus flower.

The Congress party has long said that Singh, 76, an economist and technocrat who helped open India’s economy nearly 20 years ago, would return to power if it won. But the election appeared to also be a clear victory for Sonia Gandhi’s son, Rahul, who emerged as a key strategist during the campaign and became the party’s most visible face. While a relative political newcomer, he has been increasingly viewed as a future prime minister.

Rahul, 38, is a scion of India’s most powerful family – the son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister. The family was closely allied to the pacifist icon Mohandas Gandhi, though they are not related.

The results also indicated that the communist parties, a traditional power in Indian politics, had dropped from 60 seats to less than half that number.

Prakash Karat, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said it was cause to re-examine their approach, saying they had “suffered a major setback.”

The communist parties had supported Congress for much of the previous term, but broke ties over the Indian-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement, the cornerstone of warmer relations between New Delhi and Washington. According to the Indian Constitution, a new legislature has to be in place by June 2.

The long, grueling campaign season produced few central issues that resonated across the wildly diverse nation of 1.2 billion people and 714 million eligible voters. Total voter turnout was approximately 60 percent, the national election commission said, up slightly from 58 percent in the last national vote in 2004.

With results still coming in from the Election Commission, projections gave the Congress grouping as many as 250 seats against 160 for the main opposition bloc headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“It is a decisive vote for the Congress,” said Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, as wild celebrations broke out at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

Although the Congress alliance was still expected to fall short of the 272 seats required for a majority in the 543-seat parliament, its projected margin of victory was much greater than exit polls had predicted.

A shortfall of just 20 to 30 seats would allow it to pick and choose from India’s myriad regional parties to make up the numbers needed for a viable government.

Congress was expected to pick up more than 190 seats in its own right — the party’s best showing since 1991.

Conceding defeat, the Hindu nationalist BJP admitted that the results were “far below” expectations.

“We accept this verdict of the people,” said senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who suggested a period of soul searching ahead for his party which had been pilloried during campaigning as anti-Muslim and communally divisive.

“When you lose an election it gives rise to a debate within the party,” Jaitley said.

Outside the Congress party headquarters, supporters banged drums and danced in the street, holding portraits of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Singh.

Political analyst Neerja Choudhury said India’s 714-million electorate had voted for stability.

“I feel that people did not want anything divisive in these times of uncertainty. They felt that Manmohan Singh, being an economist, can handle the economy for instance,” Choudhury said.

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 badly 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.

Exit polls had predicted that only a handful of seats would separate the Congress and BJP alliances — a scenario that had prompted gloomy forecasts of a badly hung parliament that would throw up a weak, patchwork coalition.

The picture that emerged Saturday was of a far more stable government that would be less vulnerable to the whims of its coalition partners.

“Based on the trends, I think it’s clear this government will last a full term,” said political analyst Rasheed Kidwai.

Congress spokeswoman Ambika Soni said party leaders and their allies would meet later in the day to discuss how they would go about building the support they need to govern India’s 1.1 billion people.

Before Saturday’s result, conventional wisdom dictated that the Congress alliance would need the support of the communist parties who withdrew from the ruling coalition last year in protest over a nuclear deal with the United States.

But the Left was trounced in its stronghold states of West Bengal and Kerala, leaving its leaders to concede that it had lost any kingmaker status.

“We have suffered a major setback,” admitted Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

“This is a victory for the Congress and its allies who will now clearly form the government,” Karat said.

According to the constitution, a new government must be be in place by June 2.

The report (in The Times of India) “is sheer unfounded rumor,” Chinese official news agency Xinhua quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu as saying during a regular press conference Tuesday. “The Chinese government always adheres to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”

Ma said that China, as a friendly neighbor of Nepal, sincerely hoped all parties in Nepal would work together for peace, political stability and economic development.

The Times of India reported on May 9: “While India was inviting popular opprobrium in Nepal trying to prevent Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda from sacking the army chief, China at the same time sent messages to Prachanda pledging support for doing just the opposite.”

The Times article also said that “according to sources monitoring events in Nepal during those crucial days, China reportedly told Prachanda to stick to his guns and they would support him”.

While resigning from his post, Dahal hinted at “foreign interference” in the political developments, stating that no foreign interference in Nepal’s internal matters would be tolerated.

On the contrary, in an interview to The Hindu, an Indian daily, Dahal admitted seeking Indian help in resolving the dispute.

According to him, he had suggested Indian ambassador Rakesh Sood to ask New Delhi to send a special envoy to settle the dispute over the government’s plan to sack army chief Rookmangud Katawal.

UPA allies like Samajwadi Party (SP), Rastriya Janata Dal (RJD) have distanced themselves from the UPA. The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), another UPA ally, also remains non-committal to the UPA. On the other hand, Navin Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal in Orissa has joined the Third Front, ending a decade-long alliance with BJP.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which was with the NDA until a few years ago, has joined the Third Front being led by the Communist parties. The CPI-M, which initially ruled out any alliance with the INC and the BJP, has started softening its stance vis-à-vis the Congress.

INC Leader Rahul Gandhi has made it clear that there is no permanent enemy in politics. His praise for non UPA partners, like Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar, TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu and AIADMK’s J Jaylalitha is a case in point. The INC’s decision not to give much pre-poll importance to its old allies Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, which helped UPA government to survive a no confidence motion over the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal last year, has on the other hand reminded people if there is no permanent enemy in politics then there is no permanent friend, either. “Political parties’ early overtures indicate that they are trying to rope in their potential allies as quickly as possible,” said Sanjay Kumar, fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Since there has been a coalition government for last 18 years at the Centre, it is not that the political parties are not ready to deal with the problems of fractured mandate. But analysts believe that it would be easier only when either INC or the BJP is in the driver’s seat. “There will be a coalition government this time again. But there will be so many regional parties that the harmony of interests will prove to be very difficult,” said senior journalist Kuldip Nayar. Kumar echoes his views. “If the PM is from the party other than the INC and the BJP, then I fear there would be a mid-term elections after a while,” Kumar said.

Confident of emerging as the single largest party, the INC decided to ignore its allies – the SP, RJD and LJP — in most crucial states like UP and Bihar. “Had INC fought elections jointly with their allies in these two states, it would have benefited the UPA. But, it would have further eroded the party’s base,” explained Kumar. The BJP, too, does not want to lag behind in the race of wooing new allies.

“Being the head of the state and the supreme commanderof the Nepal Army I order you to continue with your duty,”Yadav said in a letter sent to Gen Katawal late last night.Copies of the letter were sent to the Prime Minister’s Officeand six regional headquarters of the Army.

“The dismissal of the Army Chief and the newappointment do not meet the constitutional requirements anddue process,” the President said.

As Yadav refused to endorse the decision taken by theMaoist Cabinet yesterday, Prachanda convened an urgent Cabinetmeeting on Monday to discuss the current political situation. Heis also scheduled to address the nation.

The President’s move comes after he asked Prachanda, aformer Maoist rebel leader, to follow constitutionalprovisions and seek a political consensus over firing GenKatawal.

The letter asking Gen Katawal to remain in office alsocame after 18 political parties urged the President to protectthe “Constitution and block action against the Army Chief.”

Soon after the government announced its decision tofire the Army Chief, CPN(UML) quit the government in protestagainst the decision.

The CPN(UML) has 108 members in the 601-memberConstituent Assembly and its action has raised doubts over thesurvival of the multi-party coalition. As the crisis deepened, the ruling Maoists todayaccused the President of “violating” constitutional norms andputting the peace process in “peril”.

“The executive power to sack and appoint an actingArmy Chief lies with the government and not with thePresident. We will stick to our decision. We don’t have anyplans to quit the government,” Maoist spokesman andMinister for Information and Communications Krishna BahadurMahara was quoted as saying.

Mahara said the Army Chief’s sacking was “necessary”to bring the Army under civilian control.

The Maoists’ move to fire the Army Chief came afortnight after they served an ultimatum to Gen Katawal,seeking his clarification on defiance to recruit former Maoistrebels in the military.

It also questioned his “hastiness” in reinstatingeight Generals retired by the government and his decision notto participate in the National Games.

Gen Katawal had furnished his reply contending that hehad not disobeyed the government’s directives on removingeight Generals and halting recruitment in the military.

But a defiant Gen Katawal yesterday said the PrimeMinister had no authority to remove him.

Tension has been brewing between the Maoists, whichcame to power last year after more than a decade of armedrevolt, and the Army which is against recruiting the formerrebels into the military on the ground that they werepolitically “indoctrinated.”

“We have been insisting that the decision on the ArmyChief should be taken through consensus among all politicalparties but the Prime Minister decided to ignore us,” DeputyPrime Minister Bamdev Gautam was quoted as saying.

Amrit Bohara, a senior member of the CPN(UML), saidhis party had pulled out of the government because the Maoistshad “breached the politics of consensus” and taken a”unilateral” decision which could endanger the peace process.

Sources said Yadav intervened in the matter as theparties commanding majority in Parliament requested for hisintervention to defend the Constitution.

Yesterday’s Cabinet meeting was boycotted by ministersbelonging to four coalition partners. The ministers from thefour parties walked out of the meeting in protest soon afterPrachanda proposed sacking the Army Chief.

The developments in Nepal were viewed with concern byIndia which had repeatedly cautioned the Maoist regime againstsacking Gen Katawal.

After returning from a whirlwind trip to New Delhi,Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood met Prachanda on April26, their fourth meeting in 10 days, to convey New Delhi’sconcerns.

The European Union Heads of Mission in Nepal – Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, United Kingdom and European Commission – and the representative of the Netherlands in Kathmandu as well as the US issued a joint statement saying they were seriously concerned over the current political developments in Nepal and over the damaging consequences for the peace process.

‘We call on all political parties to act responsibly and in accordance with democratic principles,’ the statement said as fear of clashes between Maoist cadres and the other parties arose. ‘There can be no place for violence.’

The missions called for resolution of the present political challenges through dialogue and peaceful constitutional means. ‘We urge all political parties to find common ground for peace and stability in the national interests of Nepal,’ the statement said.

Southern neighbour India pushed for ‘broadest possible political consensus’ and hoped that the present crisis in Nepal is resolved in a manner which contributes to the early conclusion of the peace process. Reacting to the crisis in the Himalayan republic, New Delhi struck a cautious note saying ‘what is happening in Nepal is internal to Nepal’.

‘We wish Nepal well in its transition to a fully democratic polity and would hope that the present crisis is resolved in a manner which contributes to the early conclusion of the peace process,’ External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement in New Delhi.

‘We would hope that the broadest possible political consensus would make it possible for Nepal to concentrate on the agreed task of constitution-making and of democratic transition.’

The UN also urged for restraint.

‘The Secretary-General is seriously concerned about the current political crisis in Nepal centred on the relationship between the Government and the Chief of Army Staff and the possible risks posed to the peace process,’ a statement issued by the UN chief’s office in New York said.

‘The Secretary-General calls on all concerned to resolve the crisis through dialogue and consensus, with full respect for the provisions of the constitution,’ it added.

India underlined that the situation will have to be handled by the political parties of Nepal on their own as it is the country’s internal matter.

“What is happening in Nepal is internal to Nepal. We wish Nepal well in its transition to a fully democratic polity,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement here.

His statement came hours after Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ resigned following the controversy over sacking of Army chief R Katawal, plunging the country into fresh political turmoil.

Mukherjee said India would “hope that the present crisis (in Nepal) is resolved in a manner which contributes to the early conclusion of the peace process.” “We would hope that the broadest possible political consensus would make it possible for Nepal to concentrate on the agreed tasks of Constitution-making and of democratic transition,” he said.

A total of 45,000 passengers have been screened across all airports which receive international passengers, till this morning, Joint Secretary Ministry of Health Vineet Chaudhary told reporters here today.

“As of now, we have screened 12 samples and all of them have been found to be negative,” he said adding that another five persons were under observation.

While three of them have been kept under isolation in Delhi, two are admitted to the hospitals in Cochin. “The Delhi samples are being tested both at NICD Delhi and NIV Pune, but the Cochin samples are yet to arrive,” Chaudhary said.

Among the three isolated cases in Delhi, one had arrived from Frankfurt while two had come back from the United States.

The Government was also contemplating screening people arriving at various check posts across the country, specially in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The suggestion came up at a meeting held through video conferencing by the Cabinet Secretary with all the state health secretaries.

Chaudhary said 84 people, who had entered the country through these check posts, have been identified for check ups and would be tracked down and screened soon.

In a surprise move, the 54-year-old Maoist chief announced his resignation in a televised address to nation, a day after President Ram Baran Yadav rebuffed him by asking army chief General Rukmangad Katawal to continue in his post.

“I will quit the government rather than remain in power by bowing down to the foreign elements and reactionary forces,” Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said in remarks considered as a veiled attack on India.

He said his party is ready to maintain “cordial relations” with the neighbouring countries but will “not accept any intervention”.

With the Maoist premier’s resignation, former ally CPN-UML, which had withdrawn support due to differences over the move to sack Katawal, is said to be trying to form a new government with the support of Nepali Congress, the second largest party in Parliament which is considered pro-India.

However, Prachanda’s party colleague and Finance Minister Baburam Bhattarai was more direct in his attack on India.

“The so-called democratic forces specially headed by the so-called democrats in New Delhi have been dictating their patrons in Kathmandu to side with the army and fight against the democratic forces,” he said.

After a nearly two-month-long stand-off, Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda finally replaced Nepal Army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal – just three months before the latter was due to retire – with senior army officer Lt. Gen. Kul Bahadur Khadka, despite objections by his own coalition members and the international community, especially India.

‘The cabinet has decided to remove the army chief since he could not provide a satisfactory explanation to the three charges levied by the government,’ Maoist Information and Communications Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is also the spokesman of the government, said after the cabinet meeting Sunday.

Katawal had been asked to explain why he had continued military recruitment despite the government’s halt order and reinstated eight brigadier-generals who had been retired by the defence ministry. He was also rapped over the army pulling out of the National Games when the Maoist combatants too decided to take part.

The four allies of the government – the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF), Sadbhavana Party and Communist Party of Nepal (United) – however distanced themselves from the sacking, saying they had asked the Maoists not to take a hasty decision.

Fearing their desertion, Maoists began wooing the fringe parties to prop up their government.

However, the main parliamentary parties rallied under the main opposition party, the Nepali Congress of former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, to oppose the dismissal and urge President Ram Baran Yadav, who is the constitutional head of the government, to reject the cabinet order.

Yadav, who had in the past asked the Maoists to act consensually with the other parties, was reported to have termed the cabinet decision ‘unconstitutional’.

‘The constitution says that all decisions regarding the army have to be made on the basis of consensus,’ said legal journalist and author Ananta Luitel. ‘Since there was no consensus, the president can either ask the Supreme Court for advice or send the cabinet order to the interim parliament for its decision.’

If the president sends the dismissal order to parliament, it would be put to vote and the Maoists are likely to be defeated.

Though the Maoists have been threatening to remove the president if he opposes the army chief’s dismissal, Luitel said that would be impossible legally.

‘The president can be removed only if he is impeached by two-thirds of the parliament members,’ he said. ‘The Maoists can’t sack him on their own.’

Meanwhile, former army generals said Katawal was likely to challenge his removal in court.

While the leaders planned strategies, violence erupted on Kathmandu’s main thoroughfares as thousands of Maoist cadres, celebrating Katawal’s dismissal, clashed with NC supporters, who began condemning the ‘Maoist authoritarianism’.

India could once again play a critical role in the new crisis.

In 2006, it was India that helped the Maoists return to mainstream politics after a 10-year armed insurgency. However, the hardliners in the Maoist party have been growing increasingly hostile to India and accusing the neighbour of intervention.

Though New Delhi had sent its ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood to meet Prachanda several times, asking him not to take any unilateral step about the beleaguered army chief, the advice was rejected by the Maoist hawks.

Now with the Maoist government in danger of collapsing, India could once again have a major role in making or breaking the coalition.