New Delhi, Sep 9 - Nearly 55 percent polling was recorded Thursday for by-polls to 20 assembly constituencies in seven states - an exercise seen as the first major popularity test for various parties after the Lok Sabha elections.

Seven of the constituencies are in Gujarat, seven in Bihar, two in Madhya Pradesh and one each in Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.

In Gujarat, bye-elections were held in Chotila, Jasdan, Dhoraji, Kodinar, Dahegam, Sami and Data constituencies of Saurashtra and north Gujarat regions and nearly 62 percent of the voters exercised their franchise.

The by-polls in Gujarat are seen as an acid test for Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who had claimed that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would fetch 24 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats from the state in the April-May elections. But the party ended up winning only 15 seats - only one more than its total in the 2004 elections.

Modi received another setback when his party lost a crucial municipal corporation election in its stronghold of Junagadh city last month.

In Bihar, polling was held in Bochaha, Warisnagar and Chenari (all Scheduled Castes), and Aurai, Kalyanpur, Ramgarh, and Chainpur. It recorded an estimated 40 percent turnout in the absence of any untoward incidents.