The elections in insurgency-hit Manipur and Punjab -- to be followed next Wednesday by the northern state of Uttarakhand -- are seen as "a popularity test" for India's Congress party, political analyst Rashid Kidwai said.

The Congress, headed by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, administers the three states as well as the national government in New Delhi.

In northern Punjab state, where the Congress faces an alliance between the Akali Dal, a regional Sikh party, and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, exit polls predicted a "photo-finish" after voting ended late Tuesday.

Surveys by two leading news channels predicted near equal votes for both groups in Punjab.

Some 65 percent of 16 million Punjabi voters turned out to elect 117 members of the state legislature from 1,050 contestants.

Traditionally analysts say state polls do not affect the national government.

However Kidwai noted: "The results in Punjab ... will be a reflection on the standing of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (a Sikh) in India's only Sikh majority state."

Congress won power in Punjab in 2002, following a bitterly fought electoral battle with the then-ruling combination of the Akali Dal and BJP.

No ruling party has been re-elected to office in Punjab since 1972.

In Manipur, Wednesday saw the second phase of polling with Congress promising to tone down a tough anti-terror law and pledging more money for development.

"People lined up to vote well before polling started in many places. Polling so far is encouraging," senior election officer P.K. Singh told AFP by telephone.

Some 738,679 voters were eligible to vote to decide the fate of 155 candidates.

Voting for the third and last phase of polls in Manipur is scheduled for February 23.

Vote counts in the three states -- Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur -- will begin on February 27.

After the election results are in, the focus will switch to Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, which goes to the polls at the end of May and is currently held by a regional opposition party.