17. Mal

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 26.6% to 9.1%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 24.3% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerCommunist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) finished second with 23.5% — it did not contest here in 1969.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 56.2% between them, down from 87.3% — the field split more ways.

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