18. Charilam

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 4.8% to 3.0%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 4.5% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerCommunist Party of India (CPI) finished second with 44.1% — it did not contest here in 1988.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 91.1% between them, down from 98.3% — the field split more ways.

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