Practically 21,000 candidates misplaced a sum of Rs 46 crore in forfeited deposits within the final three Lok Sabha polls held between 2009 and 2019, official knowledge analysed by News18 reveals.
Based on the Election Fee of India guidelines, a candidate contesting the Lok Sabha ballot has to make a deposit of Rs 25,000 whereas submitting the nomination. For candidates from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the quantity is half.
After the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, there was a constant rise within the share of candidates shedding their deposit, popularly generally known as ‘Zamaanat Zapt’.
In 2009, the variety of candidates who misplaced deposits was 6,829 of the 8,070 within the fray. In 2014, of the 8,251 candidates, 7,000 misplaced their deposits. In 2019, this share was 6,923 out of 8,054 candidates.
The ECI numbers analysed by News18 present that nearly 85 per cent candidates who fought Lok Sabha polls in 2009, 2014 and 2019 have misplaced their safety deposits as they didn’t get a minimal of one-sixth of the whole legitimate votes polled.
Between 2009 and 2019, a complete of 24,375 candidates contested the election and 20,752 misplaced deposits. The quantity that was misplaced within the three elections was: Rs 15.59 crore in 2009; Rs 14.57 crore in 2014; and Rs 15.86 crore in 2019.
Whereas it could not appear to be an enormous quantity, when in comparison with the primary Lok Sabha, the quantity is critical. Based on the ECI paperwork accessed by News18, in 1951, when simultaneous polls had been held throughout the nation, a complete of 9,067 deposits had been misplaced, amounting to Rs 22.80 lakh. There have been 741 deposits value Rs 3.51 lakh forfeited within the Lok Sabha and eight,234 deposits from the meeting polls value Rs 19.24 lakh.
Again then, the deposit quantity was Rs 500 for candidates from the overall class and Rs 250 for candidates from SC and ST communities.
The evaluation additionally reveals that since 1951, the primary Lok Sabha election, a complete of 91,159 candidates have contested elections and 71,264 have misplaced deposit. This implies of each 100 candidates within the fray, about 80 misplaced their deposits.
It was the 1996 election when 91 per cent — 12,688 out of 13,952 — candidates misplaced their deposits, the best until date. This was additionally the election when the best variety of candidates contested for Lok Sabha until date.
After the 1996 elections, it was the 1991 elections that noticed the best variety of deposits misplaced.
Who Takes This Cash?
The deposit goes to the federal government treasury if a candidate fails to get a minimal of one-sixth of the whole legitimate votes polled.
Part 158 of the Illustration of the Individuals Act, 1951, lays down the tactic of disposal of the deposits made by the candidates.
For each candidate submitting nomination, the safety deposit is a should. It’s deposited with the Returning Officer in money or a receipt displaying that the quantity has been deposited within the Reserve Financial institution of India or in Authorities Treasury.
When a candidate is said a winner, or has secured greater than one-sixth of the whole legitimate votes, the RO provides them again the deposits.
The Guidelines
The principles say that if the candidate has polled precisely 1/sixth of the whole variety of legitimate votes polled by all, the deposit is not going to be refunded. However, if the candidate is elected, the deposit can be refunded even when they didn’t ballot greater than 1/sixth of the whole legitimate votes.
Additionally, if a candidate is preventing the elections from multiple seat, they’ll solely re-claim the deposit from one seat, regardless of the votes they get. Different deposits made by them can be forfeited to the federal government.
But when the candidate is contesting for Lok Sabha and meeting polls in simultaneous elections, they’ll get the return of deposits made in each the elections, if they’re entitled for it, as the 2 elections are completely different.
The cash can be refunded if the candidate just isn’t proven within the record of contesting candidates or in the event that they die earlier than the graduation of the ballot
Additionally, candidates who file a number of nominations from the identical seat can get the cash again from the additional nominations after the publication of the record of contesting candidates.
Additional, the deposit may be refunded solely to the individual in whose identify it was made within the treasury or his authorized consultant in the event that they die.
The primary objective of this follow is to make sure that solely genuinely candidates file nominations to be part of the electoral course of.
India is now gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections which can be held in seven phases, beginning April 19. The outcomes for the polls can be declared on June 4.
