Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): As BJP swept Lok Sabha election by winning all 29 seats in the state, 311 out of 369 candidates who were in the fray lost security deposits. Fifty-eight out of total 369 candidates including all 29 of BJP, 27 of Congress and two of Bahujan Samaj Party did not lose their deposit.
This comes to more than 84 per cent of the candidates losing their deposit that ranged from Rs 12,500 to Rs 25,000 each. With all 29 seats under its belt, BJP became the first political party to achieve such a feat after 40 years in Madhya Pradesh. The victory margin of BJP ranged between 1 lakh to 5 lakh votes in 26 constituencies, while it stood under 1 lakh in Bhind, Gwalior, and Morena constituencies.
The BJP received 59.3 per cent vote share, up by around 1.3 per cent as compared to 2019 poll results. Though the Congress vote share dipped by 2.1 per cent this time, none of its candidates lost deposit. Its vote share came down to 32.4 per cent from 34.5 per cent in 2019.
According to another EC official, a candidate has to secure one-sixth of total valid votes cast in the constituency. The most spectacular victory was registered by BJP MP from Indore, Shankar Lalwani, who won by highest ever margin of 11,75,092 votes.
Congress did not contest Indore seat after its candidate Akshay Kanti Bam crossed over to BJP. All other 13 candidates lost deposit in Indore. BSP candidate Lakshman Solanki pocketed 51,659 votes and ranked second in Indore but he lost his deposit.
The SC, ST and OBC candidates have to keep Rs 12,500 as security deposit while those belonging to the general category have to pay Rs 25,000, EC official said. It is hard to work out the total amount of the forfeited security deposit, he said. Two BSP candidates - Narayan Tripathi from Satna and Ramesh Garg from Morena - were able to save their deposits. Tripathi polled more than 1.85 lakh votes, while Garg garnered more than 1.79 lakh votes.
