JAIHO

India's Congress party has bought the exclusive rights to Jai Ho, the Oscar-winning tune from the movie Slumdog Millionaire, for nearly $200,000 US.

The country's governing party plans to use the song by Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman to boost its campaign in the upcoming general elections.

About 714 million people will vote between April 16 and May 13.

Party leaders said the song will be played during rallies in rural towns, villages and cities across the country. With its catchy tune and uplifting lyrics, the song has become immensely popular with the people of India.

"It should be on television and radio in a few hours," Harindra Singh, vice-chair and managing director of Congress's advertising firm Percept, told the BBC on Thursday.

Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars at the Academy Awards last month, and Jai Ho won the Oscar for best song.

Hindi for "Let there be victory," the song was used at the end of the film when the two main characters led a Bollywood dance in Mumbai's main train station.

Popular Bollywood songs are often reworked by India's political parties to convey their message to voters, and can be heard blaring from loudspeakers at election rallies. However, this is the first time a party has bought exclusive rights to use a song.

But India's opposition parties are calling Congress's use of Jai Ho an election gimmick that could backfire.

"This song will ensure their defeat because it will remind every Indian that millions of people still have to stay in the slums because of faulty Congress policies," Bharatiya Janata Party leader Prakash Javdekar told Reuters.