Latur, Nov 26 (PTI) As many as 94 candidates, out of 106 in the fray in half a dozen assembly seats in Maharashtra's Latur district, have lost their security deposits in the just-concluded polls, meaning they bagged less than one-sixth of the total valid votes, as per an analysis of post-result data.
Interestingly, some of these candidates failed to secure even a 100 votes, the data revealed.
The six assembly constituencies in Latur district are: Latur City, Latur Rural, Ausa, Nilanga, Udgir, and Ahmedpur-Chakur.
In these constituencies, apart from candidates from the two major alliances -- Mahayuti (BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP) and Maha Vikas Aghadi (Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT, NCP-SP) -- a large number of independents and those from smaller parties like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Bahujan Samaj Party, Republican Party of India and Prahar Janshakti Party were in the fray.
According to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, any candidate (from general category) contesting an election is required to deposit Rs 10,000 with the Election Commission as a security deposit. For candidates from Scheduled Castes and Tribes, this amount is Rs 5,000.
In Ahmedpur, 13 candidates contested the elections. Of those, only three candidates, winner Babasaheb Mohanrao Patil (NCP), Vinaykrao Patil (NCP-SP) and Ganesh Hake (Jansuraj Shakti), managed to secure at least one-sixth of the total votes, thereby retaining their security deposits. The security deposits of others were forfeited.
In Latur City, 24 candidates were in the race for the seat. Among them, Congress' Amit Deshmukh won, while Dr Archana Patil Chakurkar of the BJP secured the second spot. However, the deposits of 22 other candidates, including Vinod Khatke (Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi), were forfeited.
In Latur Rural, 16 candidates fought the electoral battle. BJP's Ramesh Karad emerged victorious, while Congress's Dhiraj Deshmukh stood at second position. Since they received sufficient votes, the deposits of the remaining 14 candidates were lost.
The Udgir (Scheduled Castes) segment had 18 candidates in the ring. Among them, Sanjay Bansode (NCP) emerged victorious, while most of the other nominees forfeited their deposits.