278. Ichalkaranji

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin widened from 1.4% to 15.0%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 4.5% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerNationalist Congress Party (NCP) finished second with 27.1% — it did not contest here in 1995.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 69.3% between them, down from 91.9% — the field split more ways.

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