Independently they fall... and lose money

AHMEDABAD: Indira Gandhi had made ‘ekla chalo re ...’ her clarion call. But, many in Gujarat have found going it alone on the political path a tough job.
And, costly too. As much as Rs 14 lakh has been lost by 1,315 Independent candidates in Gujarat in the 11 Lok Sabha elections that the state has witnessed since its creation. All of them had their deposits forfeited.
While few parties, national or regional, have lost their deposits, the Independents have often paid the price for their political ambitions.
As per Section 34 (1) (a) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, every candidate in the general category has to make a security deposit of Rs 10,000 for Lok Sabha election.
For an SC/ST candidate, it is Rs 5,000. A candidate who fails to secure more than one sixth of the valid votes polled, loses the deposit.
The deposit was raised from Rs 500 for general category and Rs 250 for SC/ST candidates in 1996.
It led to a decline in number of Independents inthe fray. Their numbers rose to three figures in 1984 — 152, and went up further in 1996 — 414. But, this number dipped 92 per cent in 1998.
Only 30 candidates tried their luck at the hustings in the general elections to the 12th Lok Sabha.
After the revision of the deposit amount, Rs 5.8 lakh was lost by Independent candidates in 1999 and Rs 2.7 lakh in 1998. The added figure, Rs 8.5 lakh, was half the total amount forfeited by Independents since 1962.
Ahmedabad has seen the largest number of Independents.
Since 1971, as many as 89 Independents have contested the Ahmedabad Lok Sabha seat and have lost Rs 1.2 lakh. It is closely followed by Surat with 74 Independents losing Rs 1 lakh from Surat. Porbander has seen 56 Independent candidates losing over Rs 50,000. No Independent has ever won from any of these constituencies.
In Ahmedabad, Independents have lost Rs 40,500 in elections held in 1996 and before but the loss of deposit almost doubled for elections in 1998 and 1999 to Rs 80,000.
Similarly, for Surat, the pre-1996 figure was Rs 33,500 while it rose to Rs 70,000 in the 1998 1999 elections. In constituencies reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidate, Dhandhuka (SC) saw 32 Independent candidates contest and lose Rs 22,000 while 16 candidates from Mandvi have lost Rs 18,000 as deposit since 1971. The amount lost by 139 Independents contesting from the seats reserved for SC/ST candidates is over Rs 90,000.