40. Harihar

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 2.1% to 0.5%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 17.0% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerJanata Dal (Secular) (JDS) finished second with 32.8% — it polled just 1.6% in 1999.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 66.0% between them, down from 98.4% — the field split more ways.

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