Ambala: 16 candidates lose security deposit, 13 defeated by NOTA

AMBALA: Out of the 18 candidates, 16 have lost their security deposits while 13 were defeated due to the NOTA option in the elections.
As per chief electoral officer of Haryana, there are around 18.53 lakh registered voters in Ambala (reserved) parliamentary constituency. On May 12, around 13.13 lakh voters exercised their franchise, and also 2841 service voters polled their votes via electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETPBS).
Only two candidates have been able to save their security deposits, including BJP's Rattan Lal Kataria who bagged 7,44,438 votes and 2,070 postal votes scoring 56.72 vote share percentage, and runner-up Congress’s Kumari Selja who bagged 4,03,678 votes and 485 postal votes scoring 30.71 vote share percentage.
Apart from Naresh Kumar Saran of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) bagging 96,205 EVM votes and 91 postal votes scoring 7.32% and Rampal Balmiki of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) bagging 19,518 EVM votes and 57 postal votes scoring 1.49%, none of the candidates were able to even touch the 1% vote share mark and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Prithvi Raj Singh bagged 12,260 votes and 42 postal votes to score 0.93%.
As Ambala is a reserved parliamentary constituency, therefore, the security deposit amount was half as compared to the open seats, and 16 candidates have lost Rs 12,500 each which was deposited as the security before jumping into the Lok Sabha contest.
Interestingly, out of the 18 contesting candidates, NOTA has defeated 13 candidates by bagging 7914 EVM votes and 29 postal votes which is 0.6% vote share.
Ambala Cantonment returning officer Captain Shakti Singh said, “As per the norms of the Election Commission of India (ECI), in order to save the security deposit, the contesting candidate has to score around 16.66% vote share percentage, only then the deposit is returned else it is seized.”