A key ally of India?s ruling Hindu nationalists was thrown out of power yesterday in state elections that are also seen as a pointer for national poll results due in two days. The opposition Congress party swept to victory in 226 of the Andhra Pradesh assembly?s 294 seats, the national election commission said after counting ended. It was a huge blow for the state government, one of the biggest proponents of India?s technology revolution.

?I accept the verdict of the people,? Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu said, announcing his resignation as Congress supporters celebrated by handing out sweets, dancing in the streets and setting off firecrackers in the capital, Hyderabad. Exit polls, which show Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee unlikely to win a majority tomorrow, dramatically underestimated the swing against his Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies in Andhra Pradesh.

Ballots for the state, one of several that held assembly elections in tandem with the national poll over the past three weeks, were counted earlier because its new legislative assembly must be formed by tomorrow. The technologically savvy Naidu, who ruled for nine years, bet heavily on his efforts to turn the state into a high-tech centre rivalling Bangalore, the capital of India?s booming information technology, call centre and outsourcing industries.

Despite large amounts of aid and foreign investment ? he also wooed Microsoft?s Bill Gates ? the benefits failed to trickle down to the millions of rural poor who ultimately decide the fate of governments in India.

Hundreds of dirt poor farmers unable to repay crippling debts have committed suicide in the past few years in the large farming state, which has also been racked by a long drought.

Naidu?s Telugu Desam Party which had 192 members in the outgoing assembly, secured only 49 seats in its worst performance.