India State Elections

Photos of the Week

Indian women stand in a queue to cast their votes at a polling station at Sanand in Ahmadabad district, India, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. Polling for the first phase of Gujarat State Assembly elections for 87 constituencies began on Dec. 13, where 18 million voters will decide the fate of 846 candidates. Voting of the second phase will take place on Dec. 17 for the remaining 95 Assembly seats and counting will be held on Dec. 20, according to local news agency Press Trust of India. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

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Argentina Annive... President Cristina Fernandez, center, waves as fireworks explode behind the government house during a rally to mark the 29th anniversary of the return to democracy in Argentina, on the eve of the Human Rights Day, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. Late Argentine President Raul Alfonsin took office on December 10, 1983 after seven years of military dictatorship. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Amsterdam Light ... U.S. artist Janet Echelman's artwork 1.26 Amsterdam spans Amstel river during the opening of the Amsterdam Light Festival Friday Dec. 7, 2012. The artwork refers to the earthquake in Chili of February 2010 that reduced the day by 1.26 microseconds. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Germany Santa Cl... Hundreds of people dressed as Santa Claus start to run, at the annual St. Nicholas Run, in Michendorf about 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Berlin, Germany, on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Warehouse Fire A firefighter walks through smoke from a fire Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, in Philadelphia. Fire Department Executive Chief Richard Davison says the blaze broke out Monday afternoon at a three-story industrial garage. Davison says an elderly woman has been taken to the hospital in stable condition. The woman's injuries were not immediately clear. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Peru First Commu... Girls wait for the start of a Mass to receive their first communion, a Catholic sacrament, at the Nuestra Senora de la Merced church in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012. Saturday is the Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a day on which many children nationwide receive their first communion. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
The Sixtieth Ann... People watch as a laser show illuminates India Gate war memorial in New Delhi, India, Friday, Dec. 7, 2012. The event marked the culmination of the various Japanese cultural events held in India to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Japan India diplomatic relations. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Beginning of Han... People gather to watch the lightning of the first candle, celebrating the beginning of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, on Grzybowski square in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Netherlands Noah... Johan Huibers poses for a portrait in front of the full scale replica of Noah’s Ark in Dordrecht, Netherlands, Monday Dec. 10, 2012. The Ark has opened its doors in the Netherlands after receiving permission to receive up to 3,000 visitors per day. For those who don’t know or remember the Biblical story, God ordered Noah to build a boat massive enough to save animals and humanity while God destroyed the rest of the earth in an enormous flood. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Germany Weather Touring skiers make their way through a snowy park in Dresden, eastern Germany, Monday Dec. 10, 2012. Weather forecasts predict more snow and cold temperatures in Germany. (AP Photo/dapd/ Matthias Rietschel)
Nicaragua Patron... A man runs with "toro encuetado," a structure resembling a bull and covered in exploding firecrackers, as part of celebrations in honor of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Managua, Nicaragua, early Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012. Nicaragua's patron saint is the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, whose feast day is Saturday. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Underwater Santa... A tropical fish examines Jerry Cowley, aquatic safety manager at the Silverton Hotel-Casino as he interacts with children as an underwater Santa Claus, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, at the casino's aquarium in Las Vegas. On weekends during the Christmas season, Cowley dives dressed as Santa into the 117-gallon aquarium tank for 90 minutes to take Christmas present requests from children using an underwater microphone and to pose for photos. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Romania Election... Lasers project the number of seats won in the parliamentary elections by the political groups that received over the minimum 5 percent of the votes, on the facade of the communist era built Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, Romania, Monday night, Dec. 10, 2012. Partial results show Romania’s ruling center-left alliance Social Liberal Union won about 59 percent of the seats in the 452-seat legislature, followed by a center-right group allied to President Traian Basescu that polled just below 17 percent. A populist party lead by a media tycoon scored about 14 percent in Sunday’s election and an ethnic Hungarian party won just over 5 percent. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Paraguay Interna... Activists hold up flowers in front of police officers during a demonstration marking the International Human Rights Day in Asuncion, Paraguay, Monday, Dec. 10, 2012. Demonstrators asked for clarification of the massacre of Curuguaty, a violent land eviction on June 15 that left 11 peasants and six police officers killed and prompted the Colorado Party and other leading parties to vote Paraguay's former President Fernado Lugo out of office for allegedly mismanaging the dispute. (AP Photo Jorge Saenz)
Right to Work Mi... Protesters gather for a rally in the State Capitol rotunda in Lansing, Mich., Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. The crowd is protesting right-to-work legislation passed last week. Michigan could become the 24th state with a right-to-work law next week. Rules required a five-day wait before the House and Senate vote on each other's bills; lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene Tuesday and Gov. Snyder has pledged to sign the bills into law. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Peru Cemetery To... In this Nov. 10, 2012 photo, a leafless tree stands in the Presbitero Matias Maestro cemetery as a man walks by during a nighttime guided tour in Lima, Peru. Visitors to the 54-acre cemetery just 20 blocks from Lima's presidential palace, one of Latin America's oldest, are treated to tales about the people buried here in a three-hour, nighttime guided tour run by its owner, Beneficiencia de Lima. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Belarus Weather In this image taken with a fish eye lens trees are seen after snowfall in the Belarusian capital Minsk, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. The weather forecast predicts continuing snowfall for the next days in Belarus. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
India Kumbh Fest... Indian linemen are silhouetted as they fix new high tension lines as part of preparations for the Maha Kumbh festival on the banks of the River Ganges in Allahabad, India, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Millions of Hindu pilgrims are expected to gather at the confluence of the river Ganges and Yamuna to take part in the religious congregation which falls every 12 years. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Hungary Christma... Christmas lights and decorations are seen on and around the family house of Dezsoe Sass, not seen, in Jaszalsoszentgyorgy, 110 kms east of Budapest, Hungary, Monday, Dec. 10, 2012. Sass used some 50 thousand bulbs and it took him almost two months to set up the installation. He’s decorated his house for Christmas for more than 15 years. The partially seen inscription reads "Merry Christmas". (AP Photo/MTI, Janos Meszaros)
National Finals ... Isaac Diaz of Davie, Fla., is thrown from Resistol's Top Hat during the saddle bronc competition on the sixth night of the National Finals Rodeo, Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Jewish Holiday o... Ultra Orthodox Jewish men walk as candles are reflected on a window during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Dec. 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
India Daily Life... Meera, a young Indian girl, walks to sell paper wheels at the Arabian Sea coast in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Meera who attends a government school, works5 after school hours to support her family who make a living selling paper wheels. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Britain Zoo Fest... Squirrel monkeys investigate a Christmas stocking given to them, during a media opportunity at London Zoo, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. The animals at ZSL London Zoo are set to enjoy a wild Christmas this year, with some very merry treats. Lion cubs Heidi and Indi have definitely made it on to Santa’s ‘good’ list and will be getting their paws on some presents, whilst the penguins will be treated to festive fishy gifts under the tree. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Virgin of Guadal... Teresa Martinez arranges flowers in front of a tree stump believed to have the image of Virgin of Guadalupe as the roadside shrine is decorated on the Virgin of Guadalupe feast day, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, in Passaic, N.J. Catholic Mexicans living in New Jersey pay homage to the Virgin on Dec. 12, to observe what they believe was an apparition of the Virgin seen by Juan Diego, an indigenous man, on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico City on Dec. 12, 1531. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Nepal Hindu Fest... Nepalese Hindu devotees line up before scattering seven types of grains during the Bala Chaturdasi festival at the Pashupatinath Temple in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Bala Chaturdashi is celebrated in memory of departed family members by lighting oil lamps and scattering seven types of grains along a prescribed route. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Britain Weather The Shard skyscraper is seen through early morning fog from a bridge over the river Thames just after sunrise in London, Wednesday, Dec.12, 2012. At London's Heathrow Airport about 150 flights have been canceled and delays are expected with more than 20 flights at London City Airport have been canceled as fog affects arrivals .(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
South Korea Resp... South Korean religious leaders raise placards and shout slogans during a rally denouncing North Korea's rocket launch in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. North Korea fired a long-range rocket Wednesday in its second launch under its new leader, South Korean officials said, defying warnings from the U.N. and Washington only days before South Korean presidential elections. The words read "Denounce North Korea's rocket launch and overthrow family succession through three generations!" (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Indonesia Mass W... Brides and grooms sit inside a bus before participating in a parade during a mass wedding ceremony organized for the poor in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Twelve lower-income couples participated in the event that was held at exactly at 12 o'clock on 12/12/12, a date seen as auspicious by many astrologers, which will not occur again for almost 100 years. (AP Photo/Gembong Nusantara)
Rice Fields Indian laborers thrash rice in a field in Jammu, India, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Rice is a staple in the diet of many Indians. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Swiss Air Force ... Patrouille Suisse Northrop F-5E Tiger II jet release flares during a flight demonstration at a Swiss Air Force commando handover ceremony at the Swiss Army Airbase in Duebendorf near Zurich, December 11, 2012. (REUTERS/Michael Buholzer)
Russia Matryoshk... Matryoshkas, traditional Russian wooden dolls, are displayed for sale on a cold winter day in the Sparrow Hills, the site of tourist attraction in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Temperature is about -10 C (14 F). (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)
India Army Indian army soldiers perform Mallakhamb, a traditional Indian gymnastics on a vertical wooden pole during a rehearsal for Victory Day celebrations in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. The Indian Army celebrates Victory Day on December 16, to commemorate its military victory over Pakistan in 1971. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
Cambodia Rice Ha... Cambodian boys prepare to load rice onto a truck before transporting back to home in Tuol village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Germany Weather A car drives through a snow covered landscape near Starnberg, southern Germany, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. Weather forecasts predict changeable weather with rising temperatures for Germany during the coming days. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
India State Elec... Indian women stand in a queue to cast their votes at a polling station at Sanand in Ahmadabad district, India, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. Polling for the first phase of Gujarat State Assembly elections for 87 constituencies began on Dec. 13, where 18 million voters will decide the fate of 846 candidates. Voting of the second phase will take place on Dec. 17 for the remaining 95 Assembly seats and counting will be held on Dec. 20, according to local news agency Press Trust of India. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
Fiscal Cliff Eco... The U.S. Capitol in Washington is seen at dawn, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Leading lawmakers have expressed pessimism that a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" is close, despite increasing anxiety about a Dec. 31 deadline to stop the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and separate across-the-board spending cuts that are the result of Washington's failure to complete a deficit-reduction (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Nicaragua First ... Girls donning their first communion veils sit in the pews of the Metropolitan Cathedral, during a First Holy Communion service, in Managua, Nicaragua, Dec. 12, 2012. Around 550 children, aged between 8-16, marked the Virgin of Guadalupe's feast day by receiving for the first time the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which is the eating of consecrated bread and drinking of consecrated wine. The government sponsored the religious event, buying the children's clothes and accessories. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Notre Dame Cathe... Religious dignitaries stand in front of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral as part of a ceremony for its 850th anniversary, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Dignitaries, tourists and Parisians gathered in the thousands for a ceremony and Mass marking the beginning of year-long commemoration of Notre Dame Cathedral's 850th anniversary. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Saint Lucia’s Da... On Saint Lucia’s Day, children from The Royal Danish Academy of Music sing in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. The Lucia tradition can be tracked back to St Lucia of Syracuse, who died a martyr in 304. (AP Photo/POLFOTO, Thomas Borberg)
NY Antorcha Guad... Rosa Maria Tellez, far right, from Mexico City, holds her newborn Jean Damian as she performs a traditional indigenous dance at St. Patrick's Cathedral during a Mass marking the end of a relay from Mexico to New York called in Spanish ìCarrera Antorcha Guadalupana 2012î in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. The relay starts at Mexico's Basilica of Guadalupe and ends at St. Patrick's Cathedral, passing through every state where families of migrants reside and symbolizes "two nations and thousands of families divided by the border," according to the event website. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
France Paris on ... Skaters take advantage of the giant ice rink set up under the famous glass roof of the Grand Palais, in Paris Thursday Dec. 13, 2012. The Grand Palais skating rink is the largest temporary ice rink ever created in France. It will remain open until Jan. 6, 2013.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)
North Korea Rock... North Korean soldiers attend a mass rally organized to celebrate the success of a rocket launch that sent a satellite into space, on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. As the U.S. led international condemnation of what it calls a covert test of missile technology, top North Korean officials denied the allegations and maintained the country's right to develop its space program. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
India Kumbh Fest... A night view of the banks of "Sangam," the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, which is illuminated for the upcoming one-month-long Mahakumbh festival in Allahabad, India, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Millions of Hindu pilgrims are expected to take part in the large religious congregation on the banks of Sangam during the Mahakumbh festival in January 2013, which falls every 12th year. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Italy Weather Cars cross the "Ponte delle barche" (Bridge of the Boats) after a snowfall in Bereguardo, near Milan, Italy, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Spain Financial ... Unions and students associations demonstrate in front of Madrid's town hall, against the latest government cutbacks in education, in Madrid, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. The Spanish government said Wednesday that the €39.5 billion ($51.3 billion) in bailout funds approved by European authorities for the country's troubled banks has arrived and the government has been forced to pass unpopular austerity measures. Banner reads 'education is not wasting, it is an investment, not to cuts'. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
Northern Califor... A wave breaks under the Golden Gate Bridge at high tide Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 in San Francisco. The National Weather Service says so-called King Tides — caused by a rather unique combination of how the sun, the moon and the earth align — will bring the highest tides of the year on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings. Along with the high tides, forecasters say a building swell will bring large breaking waves to area beaches. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the combination of high tides and surf has flooded some parking lots in San Francisco and in Marin County. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Superstorm 'Tree... A hand-made ornament adorns the "Tree Of Hope," shown here in Union Beach N.J. on Dec. 12, 2012. The artificial Christmas tree was fished from the gutter following Superstorm Sandy, and the town has made it a rallying point amid the storm's devastation. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
Fort Sumter Howi... In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 photo, a mountain howitzer like those used in the final months of the Confederate defense of Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., rests on a fort rampart. The howitzer was returned to the wall this week after its old wooden carriage was replaced with a new $12,000 steel carriage that is a replica of the original. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)
The 50th Anniver... The crescent Earth rises above the lunar horizon in this undated NASA handout photograph taken from the Apollo 17 spacecraft in lunar orbit during the final lunar landing mission in the Apollo program. December 13, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the last manned lunar trip. (REUTERS/NASA/Handout)
Coffee from El S... A worker pours coffee beans for washing at the Santa Adelaida coffee cooperative in La Libertad, on the outskirts of San Salvador December 10, 2012. (REUTERS/Ulises Rodriguez/EL SALVADOR - Tags: BUSINESS COMMODITIES AGRICULTURE)
Nanjing Massacre... A man stands as pigeons fly during a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the start of the Nanjing Massacre at the Nanjing Massacre Museum, Jiangsu province, December 13, 2012. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)