172. Kuttalam

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 19.2% to 10.7%.

Boundaries were redrawn between 1971 and 1977 — the comparison is matched by name and is indicative only.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 14.7% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• Runner-up changedSecond place passed from NCO (NCO) to Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM).
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 69.1% between them, down from 90.0% — the field split more ways.

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