Gandhi’s Party Loses State Vote

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress (I) Party today suffered a devastating defeat in Haryana state Assembly elections, threatening the beleaguered Indian leader’s political future.

State Election Commission officials in the capital of Chandigarh said incomplete returns from races for the 87 legislative seats contested in Wednesday’s balloting showed that the ruling Congress (I) Party had captured one and was ahead in only seven races. Gandhi’s party has not won a state election on its own since he came to power on the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi, in 1984.