This was the strongest result any party had managed here yet.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won 37 of the 81 seats.

That was still short of a majority on its own, at 31.3% of the vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha finished second with 19 seats.

Even without a majority on its own, it was still able to form a government.

Its NDA allies — a group of parties that team up to fight an election together and share power afterward — brought the total to 42 seats, past the majority mark.

The BJP had also now led on seats in 3 elections running.

A few numbers from the results stand out on their own.

Torpa, Jharkhand saw the tightest fight of the election, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 43 votes.

Pakhur, Jharkhand recorded the highest turnout of the election, 80.8% — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot.

At the other end, Jamshedpur East, Jharkhand was the widest win of the night, with a margin of 41.7% of the vote.

NOTA — 'None of the Above,' a ballot option letting voters formally reject every candidate on offer — appeared on Jharkhand's ballot for the first time, drawing 2,35,039 votes, 1.7% of the total.

Jharkhand's politics had begun to settle after its turbulent start as a new state.