176. Bellary

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 8.9% to 7.0%.

• New challengerBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finished second with 44.7% — it did not contest here in 1998.
• Vote consolidatedThe top two candidates took 96.4% of the vote between them, up from 70.6% — a tighter two-way contest.
• TurnoutTurnout rose 5.4% to 66.1%.

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