Bharatiya Janata Party won the most seats in Jharkhand's first assembly election, but not enough for a majority — a hung house, where no single party wins enough seats to govern alone.

It won 30 of the 81 seats, short of the 41 needed for a majority.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha followed with 17 seats, and 12 parties won at least one seat each.

Turnout, the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot, was 57.0%.

The government that followed was unstable: the chief ministership changed hands four times between March 2005 and January 2009, before a year of President's Rule.¹

That government rested on a wider alliance — a group of parties that team up to contest an election together and share power afterward if they win enough seats between them.

BJP's own alliance held 36 seats in all, 44.4% of the house — still short of a majority on its own.

The closest race was at Hussainabad, Jharkhand, decided by 35 votes.

Kharsawan, Jharkhand was the most one-sided result, with a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of 50.6% of the vote.

Latehar, Jharkhand recorded the lowest turnout of any seat, at 39.1%.

Bokaro, Jharkhand drew the most candidates anywhere, 53 names on one ballot.

Jharkhand itself was barely five years old: the state was carved out of southern Bihar on 15 November 2000, under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, and this was its first full assembly election.²