42. Chengam

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 11.0% to 8.2%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 5.7% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerViduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) finished second with 34.6% — it did not contest here in 2001.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 77.3% between them, down from 85.9% — the field split more ways.

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