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NEW DELHI : India's parliament could resemble a prison and hospital ward this week with rival parties ordering all MPs, including the seriously ill and the jailed, to show up for a key government confidence vote.
Political analysts say the outcome of Tuesday's vote, triggered by a coalition disagreement over a nuclear deal with Washington, is too close to call and parties on both sides are rounding up as many supporters as possible.
Of the 543 members of parliament, six currently serving prison sentences -- for crimes ranging from extortion to murder -- will be temporarily freed so they can take part.
Parties are also shelling out thousands of dollars for charter flights to bring in lawmakers convalescing outside New Delhi, including one in the United States, according to the Telegraph and Daily News and Analysis newspapers.
Manish Kanodia, of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is recovering from open heart surgery in Mumbai, while former Bollywood film star Dharamendra has recently had knee surgery in Los Angeles, India's Telegraph newspaper said.
But that may not be enough to secure the numbers.
The BJP -- determined to see the arch-rival Congress party pushed out of office -- has asked speaker Somnath Chatterjee to allow some MPs to vote from parliament's lobby rather than the house floor, a party official told AFP.
Newspapers speculated that this was to allow former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee -- too ill to make it to his seat -- to cast his ballot.
One BJP member who may not make the vote is Harish Chandra Chavan, MP for western Maharshtra state, who is recovering in hospital following a car crash last month.
The 57-year-old had originally said he would attend the special parliament session, but the Hindustan Times said his presence for the vote was now in question.
"It depends on what my doctors advise," the paper quoted Chavan as saying. "This issue is of national significance but I don't want to end up crippled for the rest of my life."
India's constitution allows MPs who are convicted of crimes and in jail to participate in parliamentary votes, which will benefit the Congress-led alliance since five of the six in jail are coalition supporters -- on paper at least.
Mohammed Shahabuddin, an MP from the eastern state of Bihar, is serving a life term for the murder of a political opponent. Another Bihar MP, Rajesh Ranjan, is in jail for the murder of a trade unionist.
Two other jailed lawmakers from the regional Samajwadi Party, which earlier this month pledged the support of its 39 MPs to the Congress-led government, will also join the vote.
It is unclear if these lawmakers will be handcuffed in parliament, but they are likely to be accompanied by guards.
The government maintains it has the support of 290 MPs, but reports say the coalition could fall short of the 272 required to win.
If it loses, the world's largest democracy will hold early elections and opposition parties -- especially the BJP -- will be assured of a big political boost.
The confidence vote was triggered earlier this month when left-wing and communist parties, who are opposed to the nuclear deal with the United States, withdrew their support for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The deal is intended to bring nuclear-armed and energy-hungry India out of decades of isolation and into the global nuclear energy marketplace.
- AFP/vm
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