179. Pattukkottai

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam held the seat; the winning margin widened from 11.0% to 15.3%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 3.9% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) finished second with 35.8% — it did not contest here in 1980.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 86.8% between them, down from 98.9% — the field split more ways.

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