233. Banduan

Communist Party of India (Marxist) held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 37.2% to 18.1%.

• New challengerJharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) finished second with 36.8% — it did not contest here in 1996.
• Vote consolidatedThe top two candidates took 91.6% of the vote between them, up from 75.1% — a tighter two-way contest.

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