25 out of 29 candidates forfeit deposits in Allahabad, Phulpur contests
Acandidate has to achieve at least one-sixth (16.67%) of the total polled votes in the constituency to retain the security deposit which is ₹25,000 for general and ₹12,500 for schedule caste candidates. Failure to meet this threshold results in the forfeiture of the deposit
In a stark reflection of the electoral landscape, the recently concluded parliamentary elections of Allahabad and Phulpur seats saw a clear two-horse race, with candidates from the INDIA bloc and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dominating the polls. All other contenders, including those from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), failed to secure the requisite number of votes to even save their deposits.
According to the Election Commission’s rules, a candidate has to achieve at least one-sixth (16.67%) of the total polled votes in the constituency to retain the security deposit which is ₹25,000 for general and ₹12,500 for schedule caste candidates. Failure to meet this threshold results in the forfeiture of the deposit.
In Allahabad, out of the 9,47,000 valid votes cast, Ujjwal Raman Singh of the Congress, representing the INDIA bloc, emerged victorious with 4,62,145 votes. BJP’s Neeraj Tripathi ended up as runners-up with 4,03,350 votes. In Phulpur, where 1,014,824 valid votes were cast, BJP’s Praveen Patel won with 4,52,600 votes, while Samajwadi Party’s Amarnath Singh Maurya garnered 4,48,268 votes to end up as runner-up.
A total of 25 candidates of the total 29 in fray from these two seats lost their deposits. In Allahabad, 12 candidates were unable to secure the requisite number of votes to save their deposits while Phulpur saw 13 candidates meeting a similar fate.
Out of the total 17 Lok Sabha elections held from 1952 to 2019, there are nine elections in which the deposits of all the candidates except those who won and ended up as runners-up on both the parliamentary seats of Prayagraj—Allahabad and Phulpur— could save their deposits. In the remaining eight elections only, could other candidates save their security deposits.
If Election Commision’s data of the Lok Sabha elections 2019 is scrutinised, it emerges that only the winners and runners-up could save their deposits on the two parliamentary seats of Prayagraj.
In Allahabad and Phulpur, from the first election, ie 1952 to the sixth election ie 1977, the security deposit of all the candidates except the winner and the runner-up was forfeited.
Records show that the number of candidates started increasing since the 1971 Lok Sabha elections. And, along with this, the number of candidates losing their deposits also increased.
In the 1971 elections, 11 candidates each were in the fray from both the Allahabad and Phulpur seats out of which the deposits of nine each were forfeited. In the 1977 elections, 11 candidates were in the fray from Allahabad and six from Phulpur. This time except for the winner and runner-up, the deposits of the rest got forfeited.
In 1984 polls, 24 out of 26 candidates from Allahabad and 11 out of 13 from Phulpur got less than the required number of votes to save their deposits, while a similar situation was seen in the 2009 elections when the security deposit of 29 out of 31 candidates of Allahabad and 22 out of 24 candidates of Phulpur was lost by the candidates.
The situation was slightly better in the elections of 1989, 1996, 1998, 2004 as well as in 2014, ECI records show. In these five elections, apart from the winner and runner-up, the security deposit of one more candidate was saved whereas in the 1999 elections, four candidates each from both the parliamentary seats were able to save their deposits, whereas in the elections of 1980 in Phulpur and in 1991 in Allahabad, except three candidates each, all the remaining candidates lost their deposits.
On Allahabad seat, 12 candidates lost their deposits:
Ramesh Patel (BSP) received 49,144 votes; Gopal Swaroop Joshi (Independent) secured 4,248 votes; Ajit Kumar Patel (Pragatisheel Samaj Party) got 2,642 votes; Hemraj Singh (People’s Party of India - Democratic) received 2,355 votes; Geeta Rani Sharma (Independent) managed 2,197 votes; - Hansraj Kol (Apna Dal - Kamerawadi) secured 2,141 votes; - Rajendra Prasad Prajapati (Bhagyadhari Party) got 1,847 votes; Avneesh Kumar (Independent) received 1,835 votes; Anuj Swaroop Shukla (Independent) got 1,616 votes; Shiv Prasad Vishwakarma (Samyak Party) secured 1,326 votes; Sarvjeet Singh (Kamera Samaj Party) managed 1,177 votes; and Rajendra Prasad Patel (Rashtriya Samaj Dal) received 1,025 votes.
On Phulpur seat, 13 candidates lost their deposits:
Jagannath Pal (BSP) received 82,586 votes; Mahima Patel (Apna Dal - Kamerawadi) secured 4,162 votes; Jila Jeet Bharati (Bahujan Awam Party) got 3,299 votes; Sunil Kumar Prajapati (Bhagyadhari Party) received 3,047 votes; Yogesh Kushwaha (Pragatisheel Samaj Party) managed 2,771 votes; Akhilesh Tripathi (Independent) secured 2,298 votes; Nafees Ahmed (Independent) got 2,147 votes; Dr. Neeraj (Independent) received 1,710 votes; Sanjeev Kumar Mishra (Yuva Vikas Party) secured 1,679 votes; Musahir Ahmed Siddiqui (People’s Party of India - Democratic) got 1,506 votes; Sangeeta Yadav (Subhash Wadi Bharatiya Samajwadi Party) managed 1,291 votes; Lalaram Saroj (Prabuddhawadi Bahujan Morcha) secured 1,052 votes; and Pramod Bhai Patel (Sardar Patel Siddhant Party) received 948 votes.