204. Nippani

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 12.0% to 0.4%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 13.4% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finished second with 40.9% — it did not contest here in 1999.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 82.2% between them, down from 97.5% — the field split more ways.

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