249. Gangajalghati

Communist Party of India (Marxist) held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 21.9% to 20.7%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 4.4% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerAll India Trinamool Congress (AITC) finished second with 34.4% — it did not contest here in 1996.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 89.4% between them, down from 96.9% — the field split more ways.

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