By Sanjeev Miglani
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India began counting hundreds of millions of votes on Saturday after a month-long election with no party expected to win a clear parliamentary majority.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's centre-left Congress-led coalition is locked in a close fight with an alliance led by the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Both parties are racing to seal alliances with smaller groups but most analysts expect a weak coalition to emerge at a time when India is faced with its slowest economic growth in six years and mounting instability in Pakistan.
A "Third Front" of regional and communist parties may hold the balance of power, stoking concerns that big ticket reforms such as privatisation and liberalisation of the insurance sector will remain on the backburner.
"If it is a Congress coalition with the left backing it, you can forget about any major decisions on reforms," said political commentator Prem Shankar Jha. "It will be a weak coalition, a waste of time actually."
Computerised counting of votes at hundreds of centres across the country began at 0230 GMT with the results for all 543 parliamentary seats due later in the day.
To rule, a party or a coalition requires the support of 272 members.
About 714 million people were eligible to vote in the largest such exercise in the world staggered over a month to allow security forces and election officials to supervise.
TV exit polls, which have had a mixed record in the past, showed the Congress-led coalition slightly ahead of the BJP but well short of a majority.
Analysts expect days of backroom dealings before a new government is in place and it may not even last its full five-year term.
"It's all very fluid. Any coalition that comes will be dependent on their constituents and to that extent there could be difficulties," said political analyst Kuldip Nayar.
Any new government will have to tackle the question of ties with Pakistan that have been in deep-freeze since an attack on Mumbai by Pakistan-based militants last November.
Both the Congress and the BJP have taken broadly similar positions on Pakistan, with neither willing to give much ground until they are convinced Islamabad has prosecuted those behind the attack.
Since then the Pakistan Army, prodded by the United States, has launched an offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat valley.
The United States, which considers India to be a key part of its regional strategy to fight Islamist militants in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, is expected to lean on New Delhi to begin talks with Pakistan to help stabilise the region.
(Editing by Alistair Scrutton)