India’s Ruling Party Suffers Setback

NEW DELHI —  India’s right-wing ruling party was routed in elections in three states, according to early results Saturday, suffering a major setback in its first political test since forming a coalition government eight months ago.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee acknowledged the defeat for his Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, but he insisted the results would have no bearing on the stability of his 19-party coalition.

The election was held Wednesday, but final results were not expected until today. The opposition Congress Party was expected to win as many as two-thirds of the seats in the states of Rajasthan and New Delhi, both of which had been considered BJP strongholds.

The Congress Party also retained power in the large central state of Madhya Pradesh.

A regional party was likely to win in Mizoram, a tiny northeastern state where the BJP did not field a candidate.

“The BJP has lost the goodwill of the people. Its eight-month rule has been marked by sheer incompetence, bickering and inability to govern,” Congress Party leader Natwar Singh said.

The BJP’s setback could trigger infighting among the coalition partners, and it could put pressure on the Congress Party to unseat Vajpayee if it can woo enough lawmakers in Parliament.

However, the Congress Party said it had no immediate plans to unseat the government.

About 5,000 candidates from dozens of political parties competed for more than 600 seats in the four states.

Skyrocketing prices for vegetables and grains was the main election issue, wiping out any support the BJP may have earned for the widely popular nuclear weapon tests India conducted in May.

BJP leaders admitted that infighting led to the party’s defeat.

“The voters did not defeat us; the BJP worked for its own defeat,” said New Delhi’s outgoing chief minister, Sushma Swaraj.

The elections also were seen as a test for the Congress Party’s new leader, Sonia Gandhi, widow of slain former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and torchbearer of the dynasty that has ruled India for most of its 51 years of independence.

Gandhi has focused on rebuilding the Congress Party since she emerged from seclusion early this year to campaign in national elections. She was later named president of the party that was once led by her husband, his mother Indira Gandhi, and Indira’s father, Jawaharlal Nehru.