142. Madurai West

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam held the seat; the winning margin widened from 0.7% to 2.6%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 4.4% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerIndian National Congress (INC) finished second with 41.0% — it did not contest here in 2001.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 84.7% between them, down from 95.4% — the field split more ways.

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