88. Salem-I

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 22.7% to 8.2%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 15.9% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerIndian National Congress (INC) finished second with 35.9% — it did not contest here in 2001.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 80.1% between them, down from 97.3% — the field split more ways.

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