The decisive victory of the Congress party in the Indian general election is as unexpected as it is welcome. Throughout the campaign and during the protracted five-week poll all the gloomy predictions pointed to an inconclusive result, with neither Congress nor the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) able to win a majority, and any future coalition weak and dependent on regional, unpredictable or far-left parties.

Instead, Indians voted to return Congress with only 11 seats short of an absolute majority — its best result since 1991. This means that Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, can form a government that is stable, disciplined and with a clear mandate to tackle the main challenges: the economic slowdown, Pakistan, the regional turmoil and the need to lift millions of slum dwellers and rural have-nots out of poverty.

The result, like the victory of Congress in 2004, was unforeseen and far better than most Indians feared. Indian stock markets are likely to be buoyed today as investors hope that a new strong government will be able to accelerate the pace of economic reform, unhampered by the Communists and other obstructive parties that have held back many of Dr Singh’s reforms for the past five years. What is heartening is that the turnout was strong, the campaign remarkably free of violence or fraud and the result apparently decided on political lines rather than caste, region or religion.

Much of the credit must go to the 76-year-old Dr Singh. His steady, unflappable — if unexciting — leadership has paid off. Growth has been strong, although the global downturn will reduce it sharply this year. The villages, the stronghold of Congress, have had a rise in their prosperity; India has reacted with restraint since last year’s terrorist attacks on Mumbai; and although relations with Pakistan remain wary and suspicious, the policy of rapprochement has not been abandoned.

Above all, amid rising sectarian tensions, Congress has remained secular, resisting the Hindu nationalism of the BJP while retaining the support of India’s large and generally moderate Muslim minority.

Credit must also go to Rahul Gandhi, son of the shrewd Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, and a man widely expected to take over soon as prime minister. Although hampered by the inflated expectations deriving from his name, he ran an intelligent campaign in Uttar Pradesh. The 39-year-old made much of his relative youth and approachability and largely won back the populous and disaffected north for Congress.

Indians clearly voted for continuity — not simply of the Gandhi dynasty, but of policies that have delivered stability at a critical time. The vote has confounded those who feared that neither party offered any clear choice or vision on how India should make the most of its growing international weight. The BJP, which had hoped its business acumen and conservative values would outweigh its sectarian agenda, has suffered a second blow and will have to rethink its strategy, philosophy and leadership. India’s regional parties have been brought to heel and are less likely now to aggravate the fissiparous body politic.

Congress brought India to independence. It now has a chance to give it the firm government needed for global responsibility.