A narrow return
What happened
One party won the most seats, even though its nearest rival took a larger share of the vote.
The Shiromani Akali Dal won 49 seats, short of a majority on its own.
The Indian National Congress actually polled more, taking 40.9% of the vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate.
What changed
Power changed hands, with the previous winner losing and the earlier winner returning.
The SAD improved on its own previous result.
It went from 41 seats to 49.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — rose sharply, up +10.4 pp from the previous election.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from the results stand out on their own.
The tightest finish of the election came at Batala, Punjab, decided by a margin of just 86 votes — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second.
Sardulgarh, Punjab recorded the highest turnout of the election, with 89.2% of registered voters casting a ballot.
Ludhiana Rural, Punjab was the state's largest constituency by registered voters, with 4,70,482 names on its rolls.
Ludhiana Rural, Punjab drew the most crowded field of the election, with 18 candidates on the ballot.
The backdrop
Together with its governing partner, the party's combined seat total cleared the majority mark comfortably.
That combined total reached 68 seats, 58.1% of the house.