India's parliament began debate on a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government on Monday that will decide the fate of a nuclear deal with the United States and could trigger a snap election.
The vote, due on Tuesday, is so close that several MPs who are ill may be flown or wheeled in from hospital, and others, in jail for crimes such as murder and extortion, have been granted temporary release.
If the Congress party-led government falls there will almost certainly be an election this year. It would also likely lead to the scrapping of the civilian nuclear agreement and throw economic policy into limbo just as inflation rises dangerously.
Arriving at parliament on Monday morning, Prime Minister Singh gave a "V" for victory sign.
"We will prove our majority on the floor of the house," he said, providing a boost to India's stock market, which is watching the debate nervously. At 11:57 a.m. (7:27 a.m. British time), the main 30-share BSE index was trading up around 1.3 percent.
"I welcome this opportunity of this house to review our record," he said, after moving the confidence motion. "I have no doubt that the people of India, when they consider what we have done, will reaffirm their confidence in us."
Numbers are in flux, but newspapers said the decision may come down to one or two votes in the 543-member house.
"Vote looks neck and neck" was the headline of The Asian Age.
The nuclear deal would grant India access to foreign nuclear fuel and technology, unlocking billions of dollars in investment.
But the government's communist allies withdrew their support in protest, saying the deal made India a pawn of Washington.
The vote essentially pits the Congress-led coalition in favour of the deal against the communists and a coalition led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP says the nuclear deal limits India's ability to test nuclear weapons.
A host of smaller regional and caste-based parties hold the balance. It is unclear which way they will vote amid a flurry of horse-trading that even included the re-naming of an airport to honour the father of one wavering member of parliament.
