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Indian churches delighted at 'secular' coalition win: A victory for a nonsectarian society

Churches and Christian groups in India have hailed as a victory for secular governance and a nonsectarian society the convincing victory of the ruling coalition, which did much better than preelection polls suggested it would.

The United Progressive Alliance coalition government led by the secular Indian National Congress Party won 262 of the 543 seats in India’s parliament, although the most optimistic poll forecasts had estimated only 215 seats for the ruling alliance.