178. Shimoga

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 23.9% to 20.2%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 19.1% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerJanata Dal (JD) finished second with 18.5% — it did not contest here in 1984.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 57.3% between them, down from 91.8% — the field split more ways.

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