According to information provided by the Election Commission of India (ECI), more than 80% of candidates in Bihar had forfeited their deposits in the last two assembly elections in the country as well as in the assembly elections in the state.
“The rise in the number of candidates losing their deposits suggests that the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to increase nomination fees and raise the expenditure threshold for candidates to weed out unserious candidates has had little impact on them.” College of Commerce, Arts and Science, Patna said Gyanendra Yadav, associate professor of sociology.
Candidates who fail to obtain 1/6 of the total number of eligible votes cast will forfeit the deposit submitted when submitting their nomination papers to the Returning Officer.
The deposit for a Lok Sabha election candidate is currently $25,000 general category candidates $12,500 for SC/ST.
In parliamentary elections, the deposit is $10,000 for ordinary candidates $5,000 reserved category candidates.
Bihar sends 40 members to the Lok Sabha and has 243 seats in the Legislative Assembly.
In the 2014 Assembly elections, there were 607 candidates in Bihar, of whom 512 (84.35%) had their deposits confiscated. According to ECI data, in 2019, 546 out of 626 candidates (87.22%) lost their deposits.
As far as the parliamentary elections are concerned, in 2015, 2,935 candidates (85.07%) out of 3,450 candidates lost their deposits. In 2020, this number increased to 3,205 out of 3,733 candidates (85.86%).
Women are also not afraid
Women’s interest in polling has also grown over the years. The number of people losing their deposits is also increasing.
Of the 47 women (76.60%) who contested the 2014 Bihar Assembly elections, their deposits were confiscated. According to data provided by ECI, the number rose by 6.26% in 2019, with 58 out of 70 female candidates (82.86%) losing their deposits.
Similarly, in the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections, 221 out of 273 (80.95%) women candidates forfeited their deposits. This rose to 81.62%, while 302 out of 370 female candidates in 2020 lost their deposits.
“Sometimes, established political parties put forward unserious or fake candidates because of their caste or local influence just to use them as ‘vote kathua’ (splitting votes). These candidates join the fray for monetary gain, either Exit or remain inert during the campaign as their objective is different than winning the election,” Yadav said.
“Some unserious candidates join political circles to convert black money into white money, even to attract media attention to gain popularity and brighten their future,” Yadav said, adding that the European Commission has taken steps to raise Move to cap poll spending comes $Each candidate received Rs 9.5 million in votes in the assembly elections $Rs 40 lakh spent on assembly elections will do little to dissuade unserious candidates.