The party already governing the state held on, fending off a divided opposition.

The Indian National Congress won 38 of the 140 seats on offer.

Its closest rival, the Communist Party of India, won 23 seats.

That left it short of the 71-seat majority mark — a hung house, where no single party wins enough seats to govern alone.

This was also the first election held on an enlarged set of assembly constituencies.

The extra seats came from a delimitation — the official redrawing of constituency boundaries, which happens every so often as India's population shifts.

The assembly grew from 133 to 140 seats.

New parties won seats in the state for the first time: JNP, MLO, and KCP.

A few numbers from that election stand out.

The closest race was at Ettumanoor, Keralam, decided by a margin of just 242 votes — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second.

Tanur, Keralam had the widest margin of the year, with the winner finishing 55.8% of the vote ahead of the runner-up.

About 85.9% of registered voters turned out to cast a ballot at Balusseri, Keralam, the highest share of any seat that year.

Neduvathur, Keralam drew the largest field of the election, with 13 candidates on the ballot.

This election was contested by many separate parties and independents, rather than two dominant coalitions.

10 parties won seats that year, plus 9 independents.