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Samajwadi Party supporters are already celebratingIndia's governing Congress party is trailing in the fourth place as votes are being counted in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
The regional Samajwadi Party is leading in 193 of 396 seats for which counts are available. The state has 403 seats.
Congress also looks set to lose in Punjab, while it is engaged in a neck-and-neck contest in Uttarakhand state.
The state polls are seen as a litmus test ahead of the national elections in 2014.
They are also seen as a test for the Congress party-led central government, whose credibility has been eroded in the past few months due to a series of corruption allegations.
Manipur and Goa are the other states where counting is going on.
Blow to CongressThe most crucial of the state elections has been in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which has more than 200 million people.
Uttar Pradesh politics has been dominated in recent years by Mayawati, a low-caste Dalit who heads the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and has had four terms as chief minister.
Her main challenger for state power is Mulayam Singh Yadav, who heads the Samajwadi Party that mainly represents the interests of a caste grouping called the Other Backward Classes.
The Samajwadi Party is leading in 193 of 403 seats for which vote counts are available, while the ruling BSP is leading in 87 seats.
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress party were leading in 48 and 40 seats respectively.
Correspondents say the leads in Uttar Pradesh will come as a blow to the Congress party.
"The results are shocking. We are disappointed," the state's Congress party chief, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, told reporters.
The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh, says massive crowds have gathered outside the Samajwadi Party headquarters, singing, dancing and lighting firecrackers.
The supporters are chanting the Mr Yadav's name, demanding that he become the new chief minister, our correspondent says.
In Punjab, the incumbent regional Shrimoni Akali Dal-BJP alliance has won seven and is leading in 59 seats. Punjab has 117 seats.
The Congress party has won six and is leading in 42 seats.
Uttarakhand is seeing a neck-and-neck contest with the ruling BJP leading in 30 seats and Congress ahead in 32 seats. Uttarakhand has 70 seats.
In Goa, the BJP has won eight seats and is leading in another four. The Congress has won two and is ahead in two seats. Goa has 40 seats.
The Congress is doing well in the north-eastern state of Manipur - it has won 10 seats and is leading in three seats for which leads are available. The state has 60 seats.
The month-long elections were held in a total of 690 assembly seats.
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