Delhi election results: Cong draws blank, loses security deposits in 67 of 70 seats

Delhi election results: Out of the 699 candidates in the fray, 555 (79.39 per cent) candidates forfeited their deposits in the February 5 polls.

The Delhi assembly elections witnessed 555 out of 699 candidates losing their deposits. Out of these, Congress candidates forfeited their deposits on all but three seats, PTI reported.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with party president Mallikarjun Kharge. (AICC)

All the candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies Janata Dal (United) and LJP (Ram Vilas) managed to save their security deposits after the election results were declared on Saturday.

According to the PTI report, out of the 699 candidates in the fray, 555 (79.39 per cent) candidates forfeited their deposits in the February 5 polls.

Cong draws blank for third time in a row

The grand old party, which ruled Delhi for three successive terms till 2013, saw 67 of its candidates lose their security deposits.

Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar, the only leader from the party to finish second, Rohit Choudhary from Nangloi Jat and Devendra Yadav from Badli, managed to save their security deposits. The Congress drew a blank for the third time in a row.

Shifa-ur-Rehman Khan of AIMIM, which contested two seats, also managed to save his security deposit in Okhla. AAP's Amanatullah Khan retained this constituency by defeating his nearest rival Manish Chaudhary by 23,639 votes.

When does a candidate lose security deposit?

According to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, any candidate from the general category contesting an election is required to deposit ₹10,000 with the Election Commission as a security deposit. For candidates from Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the amount required to be deposited is ₹5,000.

According to electoral law, the deposit will have to be forfeited if the candidate is not elected and the number of valid votes polled by him or her does not exceed one-sixth of the total number of valid votes polled by all the candidates.

The BJP returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years, winning 48 of the 70 assembly seats while the AAP won 22 seats.

(With PTI inputs)