Little more than half of 166 million eligible voters took part in the first round of India's general election yesterday in a poll widely predicted to deliver the first majority government in 15 years.
Five people died in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, and 14 were injured in scattered violence across the country as 10 hours of voting ended for a quarter of the seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's parliament.
Election authorities reported an average turnout of 55 per cent, reflecting a dreary campaign marked by verbal brawling among leading politicians and an absence of major issues.
A paltry 23 per cent cast their votes in Srinagar, summer capital of the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir state. But in the Kargil area, scene of fierce fighting this year between India and Pakistan-backed infiltrators, 70 per cent trekked to polling booths.
The turnout was, however, a bad portent for India's third election since 1996. The last election in 1998 drew 62 per cent of voters, but the only excitement this time was in some constituencies where electronic voting machines proved an attraction.
No government has won an absolute majority in parliament since 1984, and the last three have been fragile coalitions.
The Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee's 24-member National Democratic Alliance is tipped by opinion polls to win over 300 of the 543 seats at stake.
But Mr Vajpayee's main rival, Ms Sonia Gandhi, dismissed the opinion polls. Asked if she was confident her Congress party would return to power after three years in opposition, she told reporters: "Yes, I am. I don't have much confidence in polls."
Over 619 million voters - one-tenth of humanity - are eligible to take part in the world's biggest electoral exercise, spread over 800,000 polling stations from snowy Himalayan heights to the sand-blown Thar desert.
Some 500,000 police and paramilitary troopers will monitor the election, which has been staggered for security reasons.
Rahul Bedi adds from New Delhi:
Yesterday's vote may decide the fate of Ms Gandhi, the Italianborn widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who has enjoyed shadowy political power for years. She is making her first bid for public office from Bellary in southern Karnataka state.
Ms Gandhi, who faces a tough fight from Ms Sushma Swaraj of the rival Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in Bellary, is also standing for Amethi, her late husband's constituency 400 miles north-east of Delhi.
Analysts said yesterday's vote will be the first test of the leader-centred campaign mounted by the Congress party and the BJP-led coalition. Both parties had asked voters to answer only one question - do they want BJP's Mr Vajpayee as prime minister or Ms Gandhi.
Ballot boxes, meanwhile, are being delivered on elephant back to remote polling booths in India's north-eastern jungles, by camel in the western desert region and by mules in northern Himalayan regions. Polling concludes on October 3rd. Counting of votes begins three days later and a new government is expected to assume office before October 21st.