India's critical Hindi heartland states and the troubled Kashmir valley are today voting in elections expected to see the ruling Hindu nationalists narrowly retain power in the world's largest democracy.
In scorching heat, voters trickled into polling booths in 136 constituencies for the third round of the five-stage poll, from the financial hub of Bombay to the bellwether northern state of Uttar Pradesh and the Kashmir Valley, the heart of Jammu and Kashmir.
New exit polls for the first three rounds show the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies winning on a platform of peace and prosperity but possibly falling short of a majority in the face of strong gains by the opposition Congress party.
One person was killed in a clash between rival party workers in southern Andhra Pradesh state and a policeman was injured when rebels opened fire in northeastern Manipur state, where armoured cars patrolled and many booths were protected by sandbags.
A woman voter was injured in a grenade blast in Kashmir, but there were no reports of major violence elsewhere.
Two more rounds of voting are yet to come before counting and results on May 13th.
Three exit polls gave the ruling coalition 144-160 of the 276 seats in which votes have been cast so far, compared with 172 in 1999, and Congress 91-103, compared with 69.
Based on this, the polls forecast 262-273 seats for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's BJP and its current coalition partners - 273 is only just a majority in the parliament.