Regional party claims it will beat Modi's BJP in India's biggest state election

FILE PHOTO: Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party (SP) President, addresses a news conference before resigning from his post in Lucknow, India, March 11, 2017. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar

VARANASI, India (Reuters) - A regional Indian party has claimed it will unseat Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in provincial elections in Uttar Pradesh state, the most crucial test for Modi before a general election in two years.

The Hindu nationalist BJP has maintained it will retain power in the bellwether state, which with more than 200 million people is India's most populous.