India _ marathon vote marred by Maoist attacks

With Maoist insurgents stepping up attacks, Indians began voting in a month-long general election on Thursday with signs an unstable coalition may emerge in the middle of an economic slowdown. The ruling Congress party-led coalition appears to lead against an alliance headed by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but both may need the support of a host of smaller and unpredictable regional parties to win office. The fear among investors is that the world's largest democratic exercise involving 714 million voters and hundreds of parties will lead to the rise of a "Third Front" government of communist and regional groups. The uncertain vote comes as a once-booming India reels from a crunch that has cost millions of jobs. It has ignited fears of political limbo just as India balances needs to help millions of poor with worries over its biggest fiscal gap in two decades. Highlighting growing militant threats, Maoists killed five election officials in a landmine blast in Chhattisgarh state. Ten police were killed in other attacks across India's central and eastern "red belt" where Thursday's election was centred.

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