Results day in India

Results day in India

 印度大选揭晓日

The counting should be swift and the results known quickly

Counting has begun in India as the marathon general election in the world's largest democracy finally draws to a close.

The ruling Congress-led alliance（结盟，联盟） is battling the opposition¹ BJP coalition² and a host of regional parties.

Most analysts³ and exit polls（选后测验） suggest no party will gain an overall majority.

Parties will have about two weeks to hammer out a workable government acceptable to the president. Parliament must then be constituted by 2 June.

Turnout（出席） for the election has been put at about 60%, compared with 58% in 2004.

Security has so far generally been considered a success, although about 60 people lost their lives, mostly in Maoist violence.

Clear pattern

Counting of the electronic voting machines began at 0800 local time (0230 GMT) and the first trends are expected to be available within 30 to 45 minutes.

There should be a clear pattern by about noon local time.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder says there is a lot of security at the counting station he is attending in Delhi but that the atmosphere is festive（喜庆的，欢庆的）.

The announcement of official results may take a while longer but the trends are likely to be reliable as they will be drawn⁴ from Election Commission results.

But given the expected tightness of the contest, correspondents say the real guessing game may only begin after all the results are declared.

Since polling ended on Wednesday, the two main parties have been involved in a series of political meetings, scrambling（不规则性） to gain pledges（保证，誓言）of support in the predicted hung parliament.

Our correspondent, Sanjoy Majumder, says there have been suggestions that both the Congress and BJP are losing relevance（相关性，关联） in India, ceding⁵ political space to smaller, local parties.

A strong performance will come as a major boost, he says, but a defeat will certainly spell the political end of the BJP's LK Advani and question the leadership quality of Rahul Gandhi, the latest member of the influential⁶ dynasty to head Congress.

Caste clashes

Security is tight in a number of areas ahead of the results announcement.

The BBC's Narayan Bareth in Jaipur, Rajasthan, says meetings of five or more people have been banned across the state with paramilitaries and armed police deployed⁷.

Caste clashes in the state in 2007 and 2008 left 70 people dead.

Security is also tight in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The BBC's Binoo Joshi in Jammu says candidates arrived at counting stations at 0600 after morning prayers.

There have been violent demonstrations（示范，实证）against the elections in parts of the Kashmir valley in recent weeks, although all the five phases of polling passed off by and large peacefully.

After the counting the focus will fall on President Pratibha Patil.

There are no rules in the constitution on who she can invite to form a government. It could be the single largest party or most dominant⁸ coalition.（结合，合并） She may ask for documented pledges of support.

As the marathon five-phase general election draws to a close, the government is breathing a sigh of relief that it has been largely trouble-free.

A senior home ministry⁹ official told the Times of India: "Although we cannot afford to be complacent（满足的，自满的） now... it certainly gives us a kind of satisfaction that we could succeed in preventing any terror attack on the mainland."(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

 

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

5 ceding   

v.让给，割让，放弃( cede的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was ceding line but more slowly all the time. 他正在放出钓索，然而越来越慢了。 来自英汉文学 - 老人与海
• Settlement would require ceding some Egyptian territory. 解决办法将要求埃及让出一些领土。 来自辞典例句

6 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

7 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

8 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。