Congress falls short of a majority
What happened
Indian National Congress won again, but not by enough to govern on its own this time.
The INC won 128 of the 318 seats.
That left it short of the 160 seats needed for a majority — a hung house, where no single party wins enough seats to govern alone.
Its closest rival, the Samyukta Socialist Party, won 68 seats.
What changed
Congress's support fell sharply this election, and the assembly ended up far more fragmented than before.
Its own seat count fell from 185 to 128.
33 independents also won seats that year.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from that count stand out.
The closest race: Daudnagar, Bihar was decided by just 23 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, Madhuban, Bihar had the widest margin of the election, with 60.3% 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 Sonbarsa, Bihar, where 72.7% of registered voters turned out.
The most crowded contest was Patamda, Bihar, where 15 candidates stood for one seat.
The backdrop
No single party came close to a majority on its own that year, leaving the contest wide open across the state.