177. Thiruthuraipundi

Communist Party of India held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 43.0% to 19.4%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 6.6% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) finished second with 37.4% — it did not contest here in 1996.
• Vote consolidatedThe top two candidates took 94.1% of the vote between them, up from 83.8% — a tighter two-way contest.

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