Millions of Indians vote in round of mammoth poll

By Biswajyoti Das

GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - Millions of Indians, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, voted peacefully on Thursday in the second stage of a month-long general election that could produce a weak coalition government.

Hundreds of thousands of police guarded some 200 million eligible voters across swathes of central and southern India.

A week earlier, 16 people were killed in Maoist violence in the first phase of voting.

The ruling Congress party-led coalition appears to lead against an alliance headed by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but both may need the support of regional parties to form a government.

Under armed guard, Singh cast his vote in Guwahati, the principal city of the northeastern state of Assam which was hit by a string of separatist bombs in the run up to the election.

Singh is the prime ministerial candidate for the Congress party, which has overseen an economic boom since coming to power in 2004. The outlook for the next government is less rosy due to a growing fiscal deficit as the economy suffers a downturn.

There is speculation a group of smaller parties known as the "Third Front," seen as opportunist and an unknown quantity in government, could spoil the chances of the BJP or Congress.

At least 55 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots on Thursday, election officials said, compared with 62 percent in the first phase last week.