BJP suffers setback in Indian polls

Around 120 million voted in the elections

DELHI, India (CNN) -- The credibility of India's ruling party has been dealt a severe blow in crucial state elections.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost control of three states -- Punjab, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh, where the chief minister swiftly resigned.

Indian media reports said Uttar Pradesh -- India's most populous state and the party's traditional power base -- had fallen, with the regional opposition Samajwadi Party polling more votes but also falling short of an overall majority.

Chief minister Rajnath Singh announced he had sent his resignation letter to the governor in the wake of the poor result.

As well as losing ground to various local parties, the main opposition Congress party of Sonia Gandhi also made gains on the BJP.

Results from a fourth state, Manipur, had not been announced by Monday morning.

Voting in the legislative assembly elections in four Indian states closed on Friday.

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Although the results will not directly affect Vajpayee's central government, it could be a significant blow to the Indian prime minister and his ruling coalition of 23 parties, called the National Democratic Alliance, of which the BJP is the main party.

The prime minister needs to push through economic reforms to lift economic growth and tackle poverty -- cited by many voters as the key issue in the polls.

The Statesman newspaper in Kolkata (Calcutta) reported political sources as saying Vajpayee would likely seek a BJP-BSP (Barhujan Samaj Party) post-poll coalition to reinstate the BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh.

Together, the two parties and BJPs allies will command more than 202 seats -- the halfway mark in the 403-seat State Assembly.

Terrorism a focus

About 120 million people voted in the four-state election, a low turnout.

The elections, which were held in four stages in a bid to curb clashes among the large number of voters, were electronically administered in three of the four states, allowing results to come in faster than usual.

The voters that participated in these elections will elect representatives to India's upper house of parliament over the next year.

The BJP's main campaign issue was the fight against terrorism, a major focus in India since a December attack on the country's parliament left 14 people dead, including the five attackers.

India blames the attack on Islamic militants supported by Pakistan, which has soured relations between the two nuclear neighbors in recent months and led to a massing of their troops along their common border.