From 27.45 per cent vote share in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to 13.42 per cent in 2024, Akali Dal’s rout was comprehensive across Punjab with 10 of the 13 party candidates losing security deposits in the June 1 Lok Sabha elections.
Four candidates of the BJP, the former ally of the Akali Dal, which went solo on all seats in the state for the first time and catapulted its vote share from 9.63 per cent in 2019 (when it contested only three seats in alliance with the SAD ) to 18.56 percent this election, also lost security deposits.
The Congress, which bagged seven out of 13 seats, saw one of its candidates lose the security deposit.
However, no candidate of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which won three seats, lost security deposit.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal won in Bathinda, while Akali Dal candidate Iqbal Singh Jhundan finished fifth in Sangrur. The rest of the 11 party candidates finished fourth in their respective constituencies, in the multi-cornered contest among four mainstream parties — the AAP, Congress, BJP and SAD, apart from Independents.
The fortunes of the Akali Dal, a regional party which ruled the state for two consecutive terms from 2007-17, dwindled from bad to worse ever since they were voted out of power and a Congress government was formed in Punjab in 2017.
Incidentally, Jhundan headed a panel formed by the Akali Dal after its humiliating defeat in the 2022 Punjab polls where only three party candidates made it to the 117-member Punjab Vidhan Sabha, worsening its 2017 election performance when it could win merely 15 seats. Jhundan, who had recommended sweeping changes and an overhaul of the Akali Dal, managed to get only 6.21 percent of the valid votes — the lowest percentage registered by any candidate who lost their security deposits.
To get the security deposit, a candidate in the fray needs to get more than one-sixth ie more than 16.67 percent of the total valid votes polled, excluding the NOTA.
As per the ECI guidelines, “The votes polled against the NOTA option is not to be taken into account for calculating the total valid votes polled by contesting candidates for return of security deposit.”
The idea behind the clause of forfeiture of the security deposit in the absence of minimum required votes is aimed at ensuring only serious candidates enter the fray.
For general Lok Sabha seats, a security deposit of Rs 25,000 is needed, while for the SC reserve seat, the amount is Rs 12,500.
As per the ECI guidelines, the deposit will not be refunded even if a candidate has polled exactly one-sixth of the total valid votes minus NOTA votes.
Apart from Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who was re-elected from Bathinda, the only two other SAD candidates who managed to save their security deposits were Nardev Singh Bobby Mann, who contested from Ferozepur, and Anil Joshi, who contested from Amritsar. Mann managed to get 22.66 per cent votes out of the total valid votes, excluding NOTA votes. Joshi polled 18.06 percent votes.
The Akali Dal candidates who lost the security deposits are Mohinder Singh Kaypee (6.89 percent votes), who quit the Congress to join the Akali Dal and contested from Jalandhar; party spokesperson and Gurdaspur candidate Daljit Singh Cheema (7.95 percent votes); Khadoor Sahib candidate Virsa Singh Valtoha (8.27 percent votes); Ludhiana candidate Ranjit Singh Dhillon (8.55 percent votes); Hoshiarpur candidate Sohan Singh Thandal (9.73 percent votes); Anandpur Sahib candidate and former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra (11.01 per cent); Fatehgarh Sahib candidate Bikramjit Singh Khalsa (13.13 percent votes); Patiala candidate NK Sharma (13.44 percent votes); and Faridkot candidate Rajwinder Singh Dharamkot (13.68 percent votes).
BJP candidates who lost their security deposits are Manjit Singh Manna (8.27 percent votes), who finished fifth in Khadoor Sahib; Parampal Kaur Sidhu (9.66 percent votes) who finished fourth in Bathinda; Arvind Khanna (12.75 per cent votes) who finished fourth in Sangrur and Gejja Ram (13.21 per cent) who finished third in Fatehgarh Sahib.
Congress candidate from Faridkot Amarjit Kaur Sahoke (15.87 percent votes) lost the security deposit with a narrow margin from Faridkot where she finished third.