In UP, 97% of Congress candidates, 72% of BSP’s lost their deposits | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Congress lost its security deposit in a stunning 387 of the 399 seats it contested in the just concluded Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, in which it won just two seats. Congress got just 2.4% of the total votes in the state having contested nearly all seats, a share lower than the RLD’s 2.9% from just 33 seats it contested.
Among the other major parties, the BSP lost the deposit in 290 seats having contested all 403.
Even the big winner, BJP, lost the deposit in three of the 376 seats it contested and the main challenger SP in the case of six of its 347 candidates.

Interestingly, the BJP’s minor partners, Apna Dal (Soneylal) and Nishad, did not lose their deposits in even one of the 27 seats they contested between themselves, an indication that they were given only those seats to contest in which they had at least a chance of putting up some fight. In contrast, SP’s minor partners SBSP and Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) saw 8 of their combined 25 candidates losing the deposit. Even senior ally RLD lost its deposit in three of the 33 seats contested.
A candidate who fails to secure at least one-sixth of the total valid votes polled in a constituency loses the deposit under the election rules. All told, of the 4,442 contestants in UP, 3,522 or nearly 80% failed to get back their security deposits.