18. Mal

Communist Party of India (Marxist) held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 14.5% to 12.3%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 3.3% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• Multi-cornered3 candidates cleared 5% — a genuinely multi-cornered fight.

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