That Gandhi Magic

NEW DELHI: Amid the bomb blasts and shootings that claimed 43 lives on the first day of India's elections yesterday, the latest head of the Nehru-Gandhi family -- which has governed for most of the last 50 years -- looks set to restore a measure of stability to the world's largest democracy.

TIME New Delhi bureau chief Tim McGirk says that while the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will probably win the most votes when results of the phased vote are announced on March 3, its archrivals in the Congress Party, whose fortunes have been revived by Sonia Gandhi's entry into politics, are likely to govern in coalition with the leftist United Front. While the two previous coalition governments collapsed within the past year, McGirk says "this time, the growing strength of the BJP gives both partners a strong interest in making a coalition work." And although she won't accept nomination as prime minister, Sonia Gandhi is already Congress's kingmaker, maintaining a political dynasty unrivaled in any democracy.