Dissent wipes out deposit

AHMEDABAD: During the assembly polls held in 2007, 892 out of the total 1,296 candidates lost their deposits. Barring a few exceptions , most of them belonged to smaller parties or contested elections as independents.
According to Election Commission of India norms, a candidate is required to pay a deposit of Rs 10,000. However, a concession is given to candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.The amount is refunded to the candidate if he or she polls more than one-sixth of the total valid votes polled in the constituency.
In 2007, BJP candidate Natvarsinh Chavda from Balasinor could garner only 8.77 per cent of the 98,346 votes. In Dediapada, the BJP candidate Manjulaben Vasava could only get 13.36 per cent votes of the 1,41,476 votes that were polled.
Congress candidate Narendra Patel from Padra also got 12.40 per cent votes of the 1,17,378 votes that were polled. Interestingly in all these three constituencies there was triangular contest.
Since elections in Gujarat revolve around the two big political parties, BJP and Congress, candidates from the smaller parties poll less votes. But, when it comes to the big two parties, it is mostly internal politics that leads to candidates losing deposits.
Manish Doshi, Congress spokesperson said that “When a candidate loses his deposit, it is largely due to the internal party politics. Be it BJP or Congress there is always dissident within the party and if the sitting MLA is denied ticket he field himself as an independent . This forces the party candidate to loose his deposit. Secondly , anti party activities also hampers the chances of the candidate.”