144. Surathkal

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin widened from 10.5% to 19.6%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 9.3% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerJanata Dal (JD) finished second with 25.7% — it did not contest here in 1985.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 71.0% between them, down from 98.7% — the field split more ways.

Written from the constituency figures by a fixed set of rules — no language model.