A second landslide, with fewer seats than before
What happened
Indian National Congress won again, comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.
The INC won 210 of the 318 seats — enough for another landslide.
Its nearest rival, the Praja Socialist Party, won 31 seats.
Even so, its own seat count slipped from the 239 it held at the previous election.
What changed
This election followed a fresh, nationwide redrawing of constituency boundaries, a process called delimitation — the official redrawing of constituency boundaries, which happens every so often as India's population shifts.
The number of seats in the assembly moved from 330 to 318.
Even so, this was the INC's 2nd straight win in the state.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from that count stand out.
The closest race: Athawan, Bihar was decided by just 18 votes — the narrowest margin, how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second, of any seat that year.
At the other extreme, Chanpatia, Bihar had the widest margin of the election, with 67.6% of the vote separating the winner from the runner-up — measured as a share of the vote rather than in votes.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — was highest in Sursand, Bihar, where 67.7% of registered voters turned out.
Nirsa, Bihar was the state's biggest constituency by registered voters, with 1,48,361 names on the electoral roll.
The backdrop
Congress kept its hold on the state, governing again with a wide margin over a still-fragmented opposition.
This kept the same party in office, without a change of government.