Several city contestants lose their deposits

HYDERABAD: Of the total 224 candidates who contested in the election of 15 assembly segments under Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), 192 lost their deposits.
For a Parliament constituency, the deposit is Rs 10,000 and for an assembly constituency it is Rs 5,000. According to additional chief electoral officer, Harpreet Singh, a candidate should get at least one-sixth of the total votes cast in the constituency, otherwise the deposit will be forfeited.
In the LS polls, 21 out of the 23 candidates in both Hyderabad and Secunderabad lost their deposits.This includes the TDP's Secunderabad parliamentary candidate Sudhish Rambhotla who secured 1,35,604 votes against the threshold of 1,44,173 votes. Similarly Prajarajyam Party's candidate D Shravan Kumar also lost his deposit as he polled only 91,414 votes.
Lok Satta's candidate C V L Narasimha Rao who collected money from the public for his deposit also lost it as he secured only 52,641 votes.
In the Bahadurpura assembly constituency, except the winning All India Majlis E Ittehadul Muslimeen candidate Moazam Khan, the remaining 10 candidates lost deposits.
However, some independents have no regrets losing their deposits. "It was for the experience of it all that I contested," an independent said. "I was approached by some candidates but I refused their offer. I had been general secretary of Voltas workers' union and also president of Subash Nagar welfare association. But, I lost poorly because I did not have money to spend," said G Lakshmi Narayana who contested as an independent from Sanathnagar constituency.
Some election officials felt that the existing deposit money is too low and it should be increased. The winning chances of many mainstream candidates in the twin cities were hit because of independent candidates.
In the Secunderabad assembly constituency, most of the anti-Congress votes got split because of independent candidates.
Karras Kasi Vishwantham, an independent candidate from Secunderabad has been contesting as an independent from the last 25 years. "No matter how many votes, I am a happy person. I feel I am the best candidate of all and do not like to see my votes going to other mainstream candidates," said Karras Kasi Vishwantham.