Trends show Modi's party ahead in key India state elections

Votes are being counted in four Indian state elections - West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam - and the federal territory of Puducherry.

Early trends suggest PM Narendra Modi's BJP is ahead in Assam and West Bengal and its alliance looks set to return to power in Puducherry, reports BBC.

West Bengal's incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is headed for a shock defeat after serving three terms.

A setback for Banerjee, as trends suggest, could weaken the opposition bloc in the run-up to the 2029 general election, analysts say.

Tamil Nadu too is seeing huge political disruption as a new party led by superstar Vijay races ahead, shocking older regional rivals.

In Kerala, early trends show the Congress is set to defeat a Left party alliance, which had governed the state for two consecutive terms.

Here is the latest breakdown of trends as being reported by BBC Hindi:

West Bengal: The BJP is leading in over 193 seats, followed by the TMC in 96 constituencies. The state has 294 seats - any coalition or party needs to win 148 seats to come to power.

Tamil Nadu: Actor-turned-politician Vijay’s political party TVK is leading in around 110 seats, followed by AIADMK in almost 64 seats. The ruling DMK is leading in around 60 constituencies. Tamil Nadu has 234 assembly constituencies - the magic number here is 118.

Assam: The BJP is leading with a huge margin with more than 98 seats while the Congress is leading in around 26 seats. Assam has 126 assembly seats and a party or coalition needs 64 seats to win.

Kerala: The coalition led by the Congress party is leading in over 101 seats, followed by the incumbent CPI(M)-led coalition in almost 37 constituencies. Kerala has 140 assembly constituencies - the winning number is 71.

Puducherry: The coalition led by BJP is leading in 16 seats, while the alliance led by the Congress party is leading in 11. The assembly in this federally-administered region has 33 seats, including three nominated members. Any coalition or party needs to win 17 seats to govern this region.

A note of caution: these are still trends and can change.