172. Chatra

Rashtriya Janata Dal held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 13.2% to 4.3%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 24.8% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerJanata Dal (United) (JDU) finished second with 23.6% — it did not contest here in 1999.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 51.5% between them, down from 92.2% — the field split more ways.
• TurnoutTurnout rose 3.5% to 44.5%.

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