Election Deposit Rules Explained: Who Gets a Refund and Who Loses It?
All candidates wishing to contest elections - whether representing a political party or standing as independents - are required to submit a prescribed security deposit along with their nomination papers. This mandatory requirement is intended to ensure that only serious candidates enter the electoral process, rather than those contesting without genuine intent.
For Lok Sabha elections, candidates must pay a security deposit of ₹25,000 while filing their nominations. As per the rules of the Election Commission of India, candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) are required to pay only half of this amount.
Who Gets a Refund?
The refund of the security deposit depends on a candidate’s performance in the election. According to election rules, a candidate must secure at least one-sixth (16.7%) of the total valid votes polled in their constituency to be eligible for a refund. If a candidate fails to reach this threshold, the deposit is forfeited.
For example, if a constituency records 6,00,000 valid votes, a candidate must receive at least 1,00,000 votes to get the deposit back. Candidates who fall short of this mark will lose their deposit. This rule is often cited by political parties while predicting that their rivals may “lose their deposit” in an election.
Notably, data released by the Election Commission of India shows that nearly 86% of candidates who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections forfeited their security deposits, highlighting the competitive nature of Indian elections.
