Know what is the meaning of forfeiture of bail in elections? And how is the bail saved?

‘They have forfeited their bail…’, ‘they could not even save their deposits…’, on March 10, when the results of the assembly elections of the five states will come, you will start hearing such words. But do you know what is forfeiture of bail.

Actually, for contesting every election, the candidate has to deposit a fixed amount in the Election Commission, this is called the security deposit. If a candidate fails to secure the prescribed number of votes, his security deposit is forfeited.

This security deposit is different for every election. From the Panchayat elections to the Presidential elections, the candidate contesting in every election has to pay a security deposit.

How much is the security deposit?

• It has already been told that there is a different security deposit for every election. The security of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections is mentioned in the Representatives of Peoples Act, 1951, while the security of the election of the President and the Vice President has been mentioned in the President and Vice President Election Act, 1952.
• There is a separate security deposit for the general category and SC-ST category candidates in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. Whereas, in the election of President and Vice President, the same amount is for all categories of candidates.

How much money in which election?

• Lok Sabha Elections: The general category candidate has to deposit a security deposit of Rs 25,000. At the same time, for SC and ST category candidates, this amount is Rs 12,500.
• Assembly elections: The security deposit amount for the general category candidate is 10 thousand rupees, while the candidates of SC and ST category have to deposit 5 thousand rupees.
• Presidential and Vice Presidential elections: The amount of security deposit is the same for all classes. For the election of President and Vice President, a candidate has to deposit Rs 15,000.

Why does the bail get forfeited?

• According to the Election Commission, when a candidate fails to secure 1/6th of the total votes polled in the seat i.e. 16.66%, his deposit is forfeited.
• Suppose 1 lakh votes are cast in a seat and 5 candidates have got less than 16,666 votes there, then all their deposits will be forfeited.
• The same formula also applies to the election of the President and Vice President. The candidate contesting for President and Vice President has to secure 1/6 votes to save his deposit.

Under what circumstances does the security deposit get refunded?

• When the candidate gets more than 1/6 votes, his security deposit is returned.
• The winning candidate is also refunded his amount, even if he gets less than 1/6 of the votes.
• If a candidate dies before the start of voting, the amount is returned to his family members.
• In case of cancellation of nomination or withdrawal of nomination of the candidate, the security deposit is refunded.