Nearly 7,200 candidates lost deposits amounting to Rs 16.4 crore in Lok Sabha polls

In 2009, the amount for the security deposit was raised to Rs 25,000 for candidates in unreserved seats and Rs 12,500 for candidates in reserved Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) seats, of which there are 84 and 47 respectively. In Assembly polls though, the deposit is Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 for SC and ST seats.

The amount forfeited by candidates who fail to win at least one-sixth of the vote is deposited in the Reserve Bank of India or in a government treasury, as per the EC.

The absolute number of forfeitures has risen this year from 2019, when 6,923 or 86% of the total 8,054 candidates lost their deposits, amounting to a total Rs 15.87 crore.

Among the parties, the highest number of the candidates who forfeited their deposits contested from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) at 476, or 97.5% of all its candidates, mirroring the Mayawati-led party’s performance in this election – it failed to secure even a single seat. In total, these BSP candidates lost Rs 1.04 crore in deposits. The BSP had fielded a total of 488 candidates across 26 states and Union Territories (UTs).

None of the other four national parties was even close to the BSP in this respect. The BSP had led the parties with the most forfeitures in 2019, too, with 345 (or 90.08%) of a total 383 candidates losing their deposits.

Parties seeing the highest number of candidates forfeiting deposits.

The other notable parties with the most lost deposits include the Congress at 51, the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) at 37, the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) at 33, the CPI(M) at 30, and the BJP at 28.

Independents not only accounted for the largest share of candidates overall, but also among those who forfeited their deposits. Of the 3,920 Independents in the fray, 3,904 candidates lost their security deposits, amounting to Rs 8.96 crore.

Among the states, the most forfeitures were recorded in Maharashtra at 1,020, followed by Tamil Nadu at 863, and Uttar Pradesh at 681. No other states saw more than 500 candidates forfeit their deposits. A total of 1,121, 950 and 851 candidates had contested from the Lok Sabha seats in these three states, respectively.

In 2019, too, these three states had seen the most lost deposits with Uttar Pradesh leading at 819, followed by Tamil Nadu at 774 and Maharashtra at 768. Not only are these among the most populous states, they also have among the most Lok Sabha seats at 80 in UP, 48 in Maharashtra and 39 in Tamil Nadu.

As a share of all candidates, Puducherry (92.31%), Telangana (92.19%) and Delhi (91.36%), saw the highest proportion of contestants lose their deposits. In some smaller states with just one or two Lok Sabha seats, including Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, half the candidates in the fray lost their deposits. The lowest proportion of forfeitures was in Nagaland, where just one or 33% of the total three candidates lost their deposit.

States seeing the highest number of candidates forfeiting deposits.

In 2019, Chandigarh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu recorded the highest share of candidates losing their deposits at 94.44%, 91.2% and 91.06%, respectively. The lowest figure was in Daman and Diu at 25%.

In terms of specific seats, Karur in central Tamil Nadu saw the highest forfeitures at 52. In 2019, Telangana’s Nizamabad saw 183 candidates lose their deposits.