(MUMBAI) Terrorism was on the top of the agenda as the people of Mumbai voted yesterday in India's month-long elections under the shadow of the deadly attack that rocked the country's financial capital.

Yesterday's vote was the third of five phases of polling that ends on May 13, and results are expected on May 16. With more than 700 million voters, India normally holds staggered elections for logistical and security reasons.

Among the regions voting in this round was Mumbai, bringing terrorism to the head of the national debate after an election campaign dominated by local issues, caste and religion.

Sonia Gandhi, the head of the governing Congress party, sought to defend her party's handling of the attack and a string of others that have hit India in the five years of Congress rule.

'We don't require any certificate from anyone to prove our stand against terrorism,' she told an election rally in New Delhi.

Mrs Gandhi said the main opposition, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, should not criticise Congress for being soft on terror, recalling the BJP's decision to negotiate with hijackers of an Indian airliner during their earlier stint in power and release three senior militants to secure the release of the hostages.

Some voters, however, said they would hold the government accountable for the attack. 'We need a change as the present government has failed to provide protection to the people,' said Sachin Dhangi, a 35-year-old salesman.

For others, India's long-standing battle with poverty remained their top concern.

Sameer Singade, 32, a resident of one of Mumbai's sprawling slums - which gained prominence in the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire - said he had voted for a new party formed by firebrand local politician Raj Thackeray 'in the hope that it will do something for the poor people'. Mr Thackeray has made his name as a xenophobic, rabble-rousing politician championing the Marathi language and the rights of residents of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital.

Even Bollywood stars turned out in force to vote, urging people to exercise their democratic right and make their voices heard.

Among the big names to cast their ballots at a school in the upscale Bandra West area of north Mumbai were leading actor-director Aamir Khan, his producer wife Kiran Rao and screen hunk John Abraham and a host of other film figures.

'Being an Indian it is our duty to come out and vote,' said Khan, whose blockbuster film Ghajini recently became the highest grossing Hindi-language film of all time.

The fragmented debate in this country of nearly 1.2 billion people has ensured that neither of the two national parties has been able to dominate the elections.

Polls indicate that neither Congress, nor the BJP, will win enough seats in the 543-seat lower house of parliament.

That means the election will likely leave India with a shaky coalition government cobbled together from across the political spectrum - a situation giving the next prime minister little time to deal with a growing number of challenges like the economic crisis.

The opposition BJP must perform strongly in states voting yesterday if it is to maintain its challenge to unseat the Congress, the Times of India reported.

The BJP rules in Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, three of the nine states which went to the polls yesterday, and will want to make gains in Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, it said.

Congress will hope to improve on its 2004 performance in the states where the BJP is strong. Of the 107 seats in parliament being contested yesterday, the BJP won 40 in the last poll in 2004, while Congress took about half that number.

The communist parties, which have allied with regional groups in an alternative to the two main coalitions, face 'widely anticipated losses' as the first votes in their bastion of West Bengal are cast, the Times said. -- AP, AFP, Bloomberg