India's bookmakers have Manmohan Singh, the ruling Congress party prime minister, riding home as the odds-on favourite for the post again when legislative election tallies are released on May 16.

L.K. Advani, leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party, trails with odds of five to one, Sharad Pawar, a Congress ally from Maharashtra, is at eight to one, while Kumari Mayawati, the fiery champion of the lower castes in Uttar Pradesh, is at 25 to one.

However, the betting on India's next prime minister has become more complicated after the emergence at the weekend of a left-led alliance, the Third Front. The grouping, which includes the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and regional parties, hopes to take as many as 100 of the 543 seats up for grabs in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.