India: State assembly polls likely omen for ruling BJP

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - Polling for local assembly elections in two Indian states was held Saturday and concluded largely peacefully, local election officials said, in elections seen as a bellwether for India's ruling party and its prime minister.

While the Indian states of Punjab and Goa voted on Saturday, three more states -- including Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state -- will go to the polls on March 8. The votes will be counted on March 11.

The elections are seen as crucial for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as the government has entered the second half of its term, and the next national elections are scheduled for 2019.

Political experts say the party’s performance in the polls is very important, especially in Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest number of assembly and parliamentary seats of any state in the country, and the results will be a harbinger of 2019.

The government faced criticism from opposition parties and economists last November after Modi abolished 500 and 1,000 rupee ($7.44 and $14.88) notes across the country, which triggered public chaos and panic.

Local media quoted election commission officials saying that the voting was peaceful in Goa. Stray incidents of violence were, however, reported in Punjab, officials said.