22. Cotchery

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin held roughly steady from 10.4% to 10.3%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 4.0% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerPattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) finished second with 33.2% — it polled just 0.3% in 1996.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 76.7% between them, down from 84.7% — the field split more ways.

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