Congress won again in Bihar, though its lead over the field kept narrowing.

The Indian National Congress won 185 of the 318 seats — still a majority, though a smaller one.

It had won 210 at the previous election.

Its nearest rival, the Swatantra Party, won 50 seats.

The opposition to Congress kept splintering further, with several new parties winning their first assembly seats.

SWA, JP, SOC, and BJS all crossed into the assembly for the first time this year.

Its own governing cushion narrowed too: it now held just 25 seats more than it needed for a majority.

A few numbers from that count stand out.

The closest race: Laukaha, Bihar was decided by just 30 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, Banmankhi, Bihar had the widest margin of the election, with 73.4% 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 69.7% of registered voters turned out.

Kishanpur, Bihar was the state's biggest constituency by registered voters, with 1,05,196 names on the electoral roll.

Congress kept its place at the top of Bihar's assembly, even as the opposition around it kept fragmenting further.

This was its 3rd straight win in the state.