US President George W. Bush has won the crucial battleground state of Ohio, which carries 20 electoral votes, and also the state of Alaska, according to projections by US NBC and Fox TV networks released on early Wednesday. But the campaign of US Democratic candidate John Kerry refused to concede defeat in this crucial state.

With the victories in the two states, the incumbent president has won 269 electoral votes, just one short of the 270 needed to retain the presidency, according to the projections.

But the campaign of US Democratic candidate John Kerry refused to concede defeat in the crucial state of Ohio, which carries 20 electoral votes.

"The vote count in Ohio has not been completed. There are more than 250,000 remaining votes to be counted. We believe when they are, John Kerry will win Ohio," said Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill in a statement.

Currently, incumbent Republican President George W. Bush leads Kerry by 51 percent to 49 percent in the popular vote in Ohio.

Ohio Secretary of State Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell said Wednesday it would take 11 days for a final result to be declared in the battleground state so that the US presidential election can be decided.

"I tell everybody, just take a deep breath and relax. We can't predict what the results are going to be," Blackwell, the state's top election official, told CNN television.

Blackwell said that under state law, Ohio election officials would begin counting outstanding provisional ballots 11 days from Tuesday on Nov 13.

With 80 percent of the nation's precincts reporting, Democratic candidate John Kerry has won 46,563,241 votes, or 48 percent, while George W. Bush has claimed 49,881,878 votes, or 51 percent, showed the latest nationwide election returns reported by the Associated Press.

According to the tally, Kerry has won 221 electoral votes from 17 states, including the District of Columbia, compared with 249 electoral votes from 27 states for Bush. To win the presidency, 270 of the 538 electoral votes are needed.

In a related development, Republicans retained control of the US Senate early Wednesday, capturing a string of Democratic seats across the South, US television reported.

Shortly after midnight in the East, Republicans were assured of 52 seats, one more than they control in the current Senate which consists of 100 members, according to reports of the CBS and Fox television network.

The Republicans captured Democratic open seats in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana.

They also kept their decade-long hold on the House of Representatives for another two years, after knocking off four veteran Texas Democrats along the way.

By winning their 218th seat, and with a dozen more likely to come, Republicans were set to control the House for a dozen consecutive years, the first time they have achieved that feat since the 12 years that ended in January 1933, the report said.

The win could give them at least 232 seats, 14 more than the majority needed for House control.

American voters started casting their ballots on Tuesday morning, as polling stations were opened at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. EST (1100 or 1200 GMT) in the states along the east coast. All voting, except in Alaska and Hawaii, were to close at 11 p.m. EST (0400 GMT, Wednesday).

Bush cast his ballot at his hometown of Crawford, Texas, Tuesday before flying to Washington, and Kerry voted in Boston, Massachusetts.

In the general elections, voters will also elect a vice president, 34 senators who account for one-third of the Senate, all the 435 representatives and 11 governors.

Republicans now hold 227 of the 435 House seats while Democrats hold 205 seats and have the support of the House's lone independent, Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

In the Senate races, 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate are at stake, 19 held by Republicans and 15 by Democrats. Currently, Republicans enjoy a majority with 51 seats, with 48 of the rest going to Democrats and one to independents.

According to the country's election system, Americans do not directly choose the president. Instead, after ballots are counted in each state, state representatives, called electors, will vote on the basis of the state tallies in an Electoral College, a system which has been operating since 1788.

It was likely that 58-60 percent of eligibles, or 117.5-121 million voters, would vote at about 200,000 polling stations across the country this year, higher than in 2000 when 54 percent of the electorate, or 105.4 million voters, went to the polls.

Results of the voting were expected on Wednesday morning.

If no candidate receives a majority, the House of Representatives -- one of the two chambers of the US Congress -- must determine the winner from the three candidates who received the most votes in the Electoral College.