India's Modi suffers biggest state election loss, boosting opposition

FILE PHOTO: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends a presentation of a joint statement with Russian President Vladimir Putin after their delegation level talks at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, October 5, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's ruling party was set to lose power in three key states on Tuesday, dealing Prime Minister Narendra Modi his biggest defeat since he took office in 2014 and boosting the opposition ahead of national polls next year.

The results in the heartland rural states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh could force the federal government run by Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to raise spending in the countryside, where more than two-thirds of India's 1.3 billion people live.