NEW DELHI At least 14 people were killed Thursday as five Indian states held elections seen as a crucial test for main opposition leader Sonia Gandhi and for the communists who appeared in difficulty.

More than 132 million voters were according to AFP eligible to choose among over 5,000 candidates in 823 constituencies in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

The eastern states of Assam and West Bengal witnessed the most violent incidents.

In West Bengal, at least six people were killed, police said.

A driver was killed at Tutagarh, 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Calcutta, when a bomb that he was transporting in his car exploded.

Two supporters of the resurgent opposition leader Mamata Banerjee, a former ally of the federal government who is now taking on the ruling communists, were lynched to death by unidentified assailants in Bishnupur, in southern West Bengal.

Another man was killed in Mainktala, north Calcutta, when a bomb exploded during clashes between supporters of the Communist Party and the Banerjee-led Trinamool Party.

And a youth died when he fell off a bridge in south Calcutta while being chased by security personnel.

The body of another unidentified youth was brought to the Calcutta central hospital.

Police opened fire at Berhampore and Malda to disperse unruly political activists.

In Assam State, at least six people were killed during the daylong polling, according to official figures.

Suspected tribal militants ambushed a security patrol killing two soldiers and a civilian and injuring two others in Karbi Anglong (south Assam), a police spokesman said.

In a separate incident, three voters were killed when rival groups battled using crude bombs and firearms near Gossaigaon in west Assam. Several others were injured.

Reports of shooting, booth-capturing, ballot-snatching and arson were also received from other parts of the state, which has already seen a bloody month-long campaign which left up to 60 dead and around 175 injured.

Assam is plagued by an insurgent movement led by separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) which had issued a call for a boycott of the poll.

Due to Assam's tough and hilly terrain, state authorities had to use elephants, horses, bullock-carts and boats to ferry polling officers and materials to far-flung areas.

India's Election Commission has ordered fresh polls in at least 75 polling stations in Assam and West Bengal where polling was stalled due to violence.

In the southeastern former French colony of Pondicherry, witnesses said a 55-year-old voter was trampled to death by a mob at a polling booth. An election officer said the man died of a heart attack.

In southwestern Kerala violence, led to the death of one ruling Communist Party supporter in the Kannur district, police said.

Violence also occurred in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, where in the state capital, Madras, a local politician and 35 of his supporters were arrested after they ransacked the poll office of the rival political party, police said.

The mob, armed with bombs and long knives, also stabbed a poll agent who was admitted to hospital.

The state elections, expected to usher in a realignment of political forces in India, are considered the most significant since the 1999 general elections.

Two television stations, quoting exit polls, predicted a rout for the ruling communists in Kerala and a marginal lead in West Bengal where the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has ruled uninterrupted for 24 years.

The exit polls also predicted a resurgence of the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi-led Congress Party which is projected to grab power in at least two states -- Assam and Kerala -- on its own.

The Congress could also win in Tamil Nadu in alliance with a powerful regional party Aiadmk led by former actress Jayaram Jayalalitha, exit poll estimates said.

The outcome of the elections will determine the strength of the coalition of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the national level since two of his allies (in Assam and Tamil Nadu) could lose.

A significant feature of Thursday's elections, which witnessed an average turnout of 55 percent, was the widespread use of electronic voting machines, used for the first time in nearly 90 percent of the balloting.