The Hindu nationalist BJP has won a key election in the western Indian state of Gujarat, nearly complete results show. It marks a big victory for controversial right-wing Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is credited with pursuing successful economic policies.
The governing Congress party admitted defeat in the communally-divided state. Correspondents say the victory will boost the BJP as it challenges Congress in the run up to a general election due in the next 18 months.
The BJP has already won an absolute majority of the seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly and, if constituencies where it is in the lead are taken into account, it has 116 seats, the Electoral Commission of India says.
The Congress Party won or is leading in 60 constituencies, with the remaining six seats likely to go to smaller parties.
It is the fourth consecutive BJP election victory in Gujarat.
Gandhi setback
The Congress Party acknowledged its defeat in Gujarat, but reminded voters of
religious riots in 2002. Mr Modi has been accused of failing to protect Muslims in the riots, which claimed the lives of 1,000 people.
"I do not grudge him the victory," Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the Times of India.
However, he added that the win did not remove the "blot" of the religious riots of 2002.
The Congress party campaigned hard to defeat him, with major rallies by its top leaders including Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, the latest member of the Nehru Gandhi-dynasty in Indian politics. But their defeat means that it is back to the drawing board and a major setback ahead of the more important national poll, the BBC's correspondent in Delhi, Sanjoy Majumder, says
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