Uttar Pradesh's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) seemed headed for a rout as early voting trends showed dramatic gains for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party.
BJP and Samajwadi Party candidates were leading in 27 and 23 seats respectively as voting trends became known from 73 of the 403 assembly constituencies.
Both BJP and Samajwadi Party were surging at the cost of the BSP, which led only in eight seats and trailing in over 20. The Congress, tipped to finish fourth, was on the victory lap in nine seats.
Smaller parties were in the lead in six seats.
Staggered balloting in Uttar Pradesh took place between Feb 8 and March 3