Ahmedabad: Deposits of 420 of the 546 candidates, who contested in central Gujarat in the just concluded Assembly elections, were forfeited, officials said. The region has 61 seats, including Vadodara, Dahod, Anand, Ahmedabad, Kheda, Mahisagar, Panchmahal and Chhotaudepur. A total of 546 candidates contested those seats out of whom deposits of 420 candidates accounting for 76.92 per cent have been forfeited.
In north Gujarat, where the election was in 32 seats in this region, a total of 287 candidates were in the fray from Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Gandhinagar districts. Of them, 216 candidates accounting for 75.26 per cent have forfeited their deposits. Likewise, in Saurashtra and Kutch, 385 of the 507 candidates' deposits accounting for 75.94 per cent were forfeited.
Also read: Gujarat poll: 76% candidates lose security deposits; AAP tops list
In south Gujarat, elections were held in 35 seats in Surat, Tapi, Dang, Navsari, Bharuch, Valsad and Narmada districts. A total of 281 candidates were in the fray of whom deposits of 120 candidates accounting for 74.73 per cent were forfeited. As already reported by ETV Bharat, nearly 76 per cent of candidates have lost their deposits in the just concluded Gujarat Assembly elections.
Most of them are from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) while the Congress nominees also suffered huge reverses. The BJP won a landslide victory by bagging 156 of the 182 seats with Congress ending up a distant second with 17 seats and AAP winning five seats on its debut in Gujarat. According to officials, 75.94 per cent of the registered candidates have forfeited their deposits in the election, including 128 of the AAP and 41 Congress candidates. A candidate loses the security deposit if he/she fails to secure one-sixth of the votes (over 16 per cent) in the election.
