A new party takes charge
What happened
A different party took charge this time, though only just barely enough to govern on its own.
The Janata Dal won 115 seats.
That was just 2 seats clear of the 113-seat majority mark.
The Bharatiya Janata Party finished a distant second with 40 seats.
What changed
The party that had governed since the last election lost a huge chunk of its own seats.
95 seats swung from the Indian National Congress to it alone — a collapse for the outgoing government.
12 different parties won seats in all, with independents adding 18 more — a far more fragmented result than before.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from that election stand out.
The closest race was in Holenarasipur, Karnataka, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 122.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — peaked in Srinivasapur, Karnataka, reaching 84.2%.
The largest electorate anywhere was Uttarahalli, Karnataka, with 6,33,241 people on the rolls.
The most crowded contest was Hubli Rural, Karnataka, where 30 candidates stood.
The backdrop
A few smaller, newer parties also broke through for the first time this election.
KCP won its first seat in this record.