(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in India believe the government should not call an early ballot, according to a poll by Cfore published in Outlook Magazine. 63 per cent of respondents think the country should not hold a mid-term election.

In the 2004 election, a coalition led by the India National Congress (INC) secured 34.6 per cent of the vote and 217 seats in the House of the People. While Sonia Gandhi was the leader of the INC, and therefore the first choice to take over as head of government, the party eventually nominated Manmohan Singh.

Singh has served as prime minister since May 2004, becoming the country's first Sikh head of government. The Oxford-educated economist previously acted as finance minister in the administration of Narasimha Rao in the early 1990s.

Earlier this month, four communist parties belonging to the Left Front (LF)—which supports the INC-led administration—refused to back a nuclear deal between India and the United States, which had been sponsored by Singh. The disagreement has sparked speculation about the possibility of a mid-term election. On Aug. 23, Abani Roy, leader of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), declared: "We haven't come any closer to an agreement with the government on the nuclear issue."

On Aug. 25, Venugopal Dhoot, president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), said the economy could suffer from the current political instability, declaring, "Political happenings have an important bearing on the health of an economy. The ongoing turmoil would halt the growth momentum. (...) Apprehensions about the government's stability would not only affect the economic activity at the domestic level but international trade would also be hampered."

Polling Data

Should the country go in for a mid-term election?

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