World Notes INDIA

About 300 million Indians went to the polls last week, but they were not cheering for Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi the way they did when he ran in 1984, two months after the assassination of his mother Indira. Surveys showed that the five-party National Front coalition, led by the mild, bespectacled V.P. Singh, stood a good chance of beating Gandhi's Congress (I) Party. Since independence, Congress has been defeated only once.

Charges of corruption have been the opposition's strongest electoral weapon, particularly allegations that officials in Gandhi's government accepted some $50 million in kickbacks from the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. But Gandhi has also been derided for indecisive leadership, remoteness, inept campaign slogans, rising prices and, especially in rural areas, failing to deliver a better life. Yet Congress has scored points by painting the opposition coalition as inherently unstable.

Despite the deployment of more than 1.2 million police and paramilitary troops, almost 100 people were killed last week in election-related violence. Allegations of vote fraud were rife, even in Gandhi's own constituency, as Congress used its great wealth, muscle and control over patronage to boost its chances of winning.