Modi eyes defeat in state elections

India's ruling party could lose power in three key states, four TV networks said Tuesday, citing votecount leads, report Reuters and AFP.

It is seen as a big blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of national polls in 2019.

The main opposition Congress party could form governments in the central states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, and in the western state of Rajasthan, all big heartland states that powered Modi to a landslide win in the 2014 general election.

The votes held earlier this month and in November were seen as a dry run for next year's vote when Modi will likely go head-to-head with Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party for a second term.

In the central state of Chhattisgarh ruled by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for 15 years, chief minister Raman Singh conceded defeat after early results showed the BJP trailing Congress by some 50 seats in the 90-seat state assembly.

In Rajasthan, the Congress was leading in 114 of the 199 seats contested, against 81 for the BJP, in the initial round of voting, India Today TV said.

In Chhattisgarh, the Congress was ahead in 59 of the 90 seats at stake, with the BJP at 24. In Madhya Pradesh, the most important of the five states that held assembly elections over the past few weeks, Congress was ahead, with 112 of 230 seats. The Hindu nationalist BJP was at 103, the network said.

In two other smaller states also releasing results Tuesday, Telangana in the south and remote Mizoram in the northeast, regional parties looked to be leading.

Congress's five-time Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla was routed by the regional Mizo National Front, a BJP ally. In Telangana the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi won handsomely -- at the expense of Congress.