NEW DELHI - India's opposition Congress party captured the most seats in parliamentary elections, according to early results today, a stunning defeat for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that opens the way for the Gandhi dynasty to return to power.

Vajpayee's ruling party conceded the race, meaning that Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, could become the next leader of the world's largest democracy. It was one of the most dramatic political upsets since Indian independence almost 60 years ago.

The results reflected the feeling by millions of India's rural poor that they had been left out of the economic boom promoted by Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

"We have not got the mandate of the people," said BJP President Venkaiah Naidu, adding that the decision was taken at a 90-minute meeting of the party and its coalition partners.

Congress and its allies had already claimed victory and some promised that Gandhi, the party leader, would be the next prime minister. There was still no official decision, however, and she must form a coalition with leftist parties that could object to her taking the leadership role - in part because of her foreign origins.

After more than eight hours of vote-counting for 539 of Parliament's 543 elected seats, official results showed Congress and its allies were leading Vajpayee's 11-member National Democratic Alliance 145 to 119 seats.

George Fernandes, defense minister under Vajpayee, said the new Parliament could meet as early as Monday.

It was an embarrassing defeat for Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist-led government, which had called elections six months early because it felt confident of winning an even bigger majority in Parliament, based on the roaring economy and prospects of peace with Pakistan.

Before the five-phased elections, which began April 20, Vajpayee and his alliance had been expected to win enough seats to eventually form a government and rule the country for another five years.

But Congress focused its campaign on the country's 300 million people who still live on less than a dollar a day. It hammered away at the lack of even basic infrastructure, electricity and potable water for millions of rural poor.

A leader in Vajpayee's coalition said the results were "totally against our expectations."

Pakistan expressed confidence today that the peace process would continue despite the NDA defeat.