Several social media users have falsely claimed that a candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lost his election deposit in the recently concluded Delhi Municipal Corporation by-elections. This would imply that the candidate had failed to secure over one-sixth of the total valid votes polled in a constituency or ward.
However, we found that the only losing AAP candidate, Mohd Ishraq Khan from the Chauhan Bangar ward, had actually secured 5,561 out of 21,968 valid votes, which is more than one-sixth of the total votes.
The tweet was first shared by the Indian National Congress (INC) Chhattisgarh’s official Twitter account, but they later issued a clarification. However, this tweet was copy-pasted by several users on social media to claim the same.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
According to the Election Commission Rules, a candidate must deposit a sum of Rs 5,000 to be duly nominated and if s/he fails to secure a minimum of one-sixth of the total valid votes, the deposit shall be forfeited to the government.
We looked up the results of Delhi Municipal Corporation bypolls, which were announced on 3 March and found that the AAP had only lost in one of the five wards – Ward 041-E Chauhan Banger.
Candidate Mohd Ishraq Khan of the AAP lost to Congress’ Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad by a margin of 10,642 votes.
However, he managed to secure 5,561 out of 21,968 valid votes, which amounts to a little more than 25 percent of the total votes.
Since he secured more than one-sixth of the total votes, it’s evident that he did not lose his deposit, as claimed.
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