West Bengal: Seven BJP candidates lose election deposits after poll results

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Kolkata: Of the 292 candidates who contested in the recently concluded Assembly elections in West Bengal, the deposits of seven BJP candidates have been forfeited.

The seven saffron party nominees who suffered humiliating defeats were from Bhaganbangola, Lalgola, Raghunathganj, Canning East, Bhangar, Hariharpara and Sujapur.

Election deposit is an amount deposited by the candidate while submitting his or her nomination. According to Election Commission rules, for state Assembly polls, the amount is Rs 10,000 while it is Rs 5,000 for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates.

As it is a caution money, the EC returns the amount to the candidates, but as per Section 34, 1 (a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, if a candidate fails to get 1/6th (16.5 per cent) of the total valid votes franchised in that constituency, then the amount deposited by him/her is seized by the poll panel.

The BJP candidate from the Bhagawangola Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, Mehebub Alam, suffered a huge defeat as he went down to his nearest rival of Trinamool Congress by a margin of 137,088 votes. Trinamool`s Idris Ali got 153,795 votes against Alam`s 16,707, which is 7.2 per cent of the total votes cast.

The BJP candidate from Sujapur Assembly constituency in Malda district, S.K. Ziauddin, also suffered a huge defeat against Trinamool`s Md Abdul Ghani. Ghani got 152,445 votes against Ziauddin`s 14,789, which is just 7.1 per cent of the total votes polled.

The Trinamool candidate from Canning East in South 24 Parganas district, Soakat Molla, defeated his nearest rival Kalipada Naskar of the BJP by a margin of 87,059 votes. While Molla got 121,562 votes, Naskar could manage 34,503 votes, which is 14.5 per cent of the total votes cast.

Similarly, the BJP candidate from the Raghunathganj Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district managed to get only 14.9 per cent of the total votes polled. While BJP`s Golam Mudassuer got 28,251 votes, Trinamool candidate Akruzzaman was far ahead of him with 126,834 votes.

Abdul Kahelque Mollah, the Trinamool candidate from the Metiabruz Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, defeated his nearest rival Ramjit Prasad of the BJP by a margin of 84,282 votes. Mollah got 102,660 votes against Prasad`s tally of 31,357, which is 16 per cent of the total votes cast.

Similarly, the BJP candidate from Lalgola in Murshidabad district lost to his Trinamool rival by a margin of 78,363 votes, managing only 15.4 per cent of the vote share. While Trinamool`s Ali Mohammad got 107,703 votes, BJP`s Kalpana Ghosh`s tally stopped at 46,891.

In the Bhangar Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, BJP candidate Soumi Hati went down to the third position, getting only 38,726 votes against the winning ISF candidate Naushad Siddiqui`s tally of 109,063 votes.