An eighty-year-old man sits among villagers lined up outside a ballot station in Ismaila village in Haryana, where the Assembly election was conducted on Feb. 3. (Photo: AFP)

New Delhi : India’s key political parties took the first popularity test of this year on Feb. 3 as Haryana and parts of Bihar and Jharkhand went to polls amid violence in which at least 16 people were killed.

About 55-60 percent of an estimated 32 million voters exercised their franchise in an electoral battle that will test the fortunes of the Congress Party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), their regional allies and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

The election in Haryana was largely peaceful barring the last-minute killing of a car-driver, as Jharkhand and Bihar lived up to their reputation as violence-prone states. But people turned out in large numbers defying Maoist diktats. Group clashes and Maoist violence claimed eight lives in Bihar and seven in Jharkhand.

Elections took place on Feb. 3 in 24 of the 81 constituencies in Jharkhand. Jharkhand and Bihar will see further polling Feb. 15 and 23. The outcome of millions of votes cast in the three states will be known Feb. 27.

At least two exits poll handed down victory to the Congress in Haryana, where voting took place for all 90 assembly seats. Aaj Tak news channel gave 57-63 seats for Congress in Haryana, with the ruling INLD expected to finish with just 6-12 seats. A Zee News-C Voter poll gave 60 seats to Congress and a mere 11 to INLD.

In Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is perhaps fighting its toughest battle to retain power after 15 years of widely criticized governance. With the Congress, his ally in New Delhi turning against him in Bihar, Lalu Prasad has been forced to take on virtually everyone, including foe-turned-friend-turned-foe and Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and long-standing rivals BJP and Janata Dal-United.

If RJD loses, it will be a major blow to Lalu Prasad, and even to the Congress-led coalition in New Delhi. But even if his party comes on top in a fractured verdict, Lalu Prasad will still have reason to smile, although such a result will weaken his bargaining position.

Exit polls painted a grim picture for Lalu Prasad. Aaj Tak gave the party only 26 seats of the 64 seats that went to the polls on Feb. 3 and Zee News gave it only 17 seats. The RJD held 33 of the 64 seats in the outgoing assembly. The BJP is expected to win 20 seats, but the biggest gainer will be the Congress with 16 seats, according to the Zee News poll. Aaj Tak gave the Congress only one seat in Bihar, and the BJP 21. The BJP waged a grim battle in neighboring Jharkhand, where the Congress has allied with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) of Coal Minister Shibu Soren.