Delhi candidates lose deposits as Modi magic makes a sweep

The strong Narendra Modi wave not just swept away Congress from Delhi but the destruction was so pronounced that three of the party candidates failed to even secure the mandatory one sixth of total polled votes in their parliamentary constituencies to save their security. 

The wave also proved fatal for political aspirations of small parties and independents as all of them lost security deposit.

Three Congress candidates, Krishna Teerath from North West, JP Agarwal from North East and Mahabal Mishra from West Delhi lost their security deposit. West Delhi seat polled a maximum of 13,47,386 votes for which a candidate was supposed to secure a minimum of 2,24,564 votes to save his security deposit but Congress’ sitting member of Parliament Mahabal Mishra got only 1.93 lakh votes.

All other 14 candidates who contested from the seat lost their security deposits and 12 candidates got less than 8,707 NOTA (none of the above) votes.

Krishna Tirath of the Congress got only 1,57,468 votes which was less than one sixth of 13.46 lakh total votes polled at the North West Delhi seat. She also lost her security deposit along with 11 other candidates. Here too 10 candidates got less votes than NOTA votes.

Former Delhi Congress president JP Agarwal got 2.14 lakh votes but the minimum votes required to save security for the North East Delhi seat was 2.19 lakh. Agarwal, along with 20 other candidates, lost his security deposit. Here a total 13.17 lakh votes were polled and 19 candidates got less votes than the 3,824 votes polled for NOTA.

A maximum of 26 candidates lost their security deposit from New Delhi parliamentary seat from where BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi defeated Aam Aadmi Party’s Ashish Khetan and sitting Congress MP Ajay Maken landed at the third position.

At Chandni Chowk, from where Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan won the election, 22 candidates lost their security while 20 candidates secured less than the NOTA votes.