80% of candidates aiming victory get security forfeited

Jaipur: After high voter turnout in November-25 polling for Assembly elections, attention is now turning to a startling trend in recent contests.

The State’s political landscape has long been dominated by a two-party system, leaving independent candidates and smaller parties facing an uphill battle.

A closer look at the 2018 Assembly elections reveals that a whopping 80 percent of candidates got their security deposits forfeited.

Out of the 2,294 candidates who threw their hats into the ring, a staggering 1,839 failed to secure the required percentage of votes to retain their deposits.

Notably, this included 13 Congress and 3 BJP candidates who fell short of expectations. The trend is not unique to 2018, as the data from the 2013 and 2008 elections indicates similar forfeiture rates of around 80 percent. Out of 2,194 candidates, who contested in 2008, the deposits of 1,730, about 79 percent, were forfeited.

While filing nomination to contest polls, each general category candidate has to deposit a security deposit of Rs 10,000 and SC-ST candidate has to deposit Rs 5,000.