Nearly 86% of the candidates who ran in India’s 2019 Lok Sabha elections lost their money, according to Election Commission of India data cited by Live Chennai. The money in question is the election deposit, a sum every would-be candidate hands over before a name goes on the ballot. Three democracies show how differently the device can work.
The idea is the same everywhere. Put cash on the table, and people with no chance of winning think twice. Get enough votes and the cash comes back. Fall short and the state keeps it. What counts as “enough” is where the countries part ways.
Australia: $2,000 and a 4% line
The Australian Electoral Commission sets the deposit at $2,000 for a House of Representatives candidate, and the same figure applies to Senate candidates. It is refunded if the candidate wins, or if a candidate or Senate group collects at least 4% of first preference votes. A winner who finished below 4% still gets the money back. SBS News adds that the deposit goes back to whoever paid it, or to a person that payer authorises in writing.
Payment is by cash, debit card, or a bank cheque made out to the commission. Personal cheques are refused. Candidates also need at least 100 nominators on the electoral roll, and nominations open only after the election writ is issued, in a window of between 10 and 27 days.
Canada: a deposit that did not survive court
Canada used to ask for $1,000. Then Kieran Szuchewycz, of Edmonton, tried to stand as an independent in Calgary-Heritage, the riding of then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in the 2015 federal election. He could not manage it, and he sued the federal justice department over three sections of the Canada Elections Act.
Szuchewycz told the court his family lived on roughly $2,000 a month. The deposit was affordable on paper, he argued, but a real hardship in practice, and it would never stop a wealthy person who was not serious about running. Justice Avril Inglis agreed on that one point. She wrote that “only the Deposit Requirement Provision of the Act is in breach of the Charter right of each citizen to be eligible to participate meaningfully in the electoral process as a candidate.”
The ruling, dated 25 October 2017, found the rule infringed Section 3 of the Charter and could not be saved under Section 1. Inglis declared the provision “of no force and effect” and threw out his other challenges, which covered nomination papers and filing procedures. Global News reported that Elections Canada would “review this decision and determine the impact on our processes.”
India: rupees, and a one-sixth hurdle
India sets the bar far higher than Australia does. A general candidate for the Lok Sabha pays ₹25,000, and a state assembly candidate pays ₹10,000. Candidates from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes pay half: ₹12,500 and ₹5,000, in that order.
To keep the deposit, a candidate must win more than one-sixth of the valid votes cast in the constituency. Miss that and it is forfeited. Bihar Election News notes that a deposit also comes back if the candidate withdraws, or if the nomination is rejected before the final list of candidates is published. The rules come from Section 34 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
A one-sixth threshold is steep in a crowded field, which helps explain why so many 2019 candidates walked away with nothing.
Sources
- Candidate nominations – Australian Electoral Commission
- How you can run as a candidate in Australia's federal election (SBS News)
- Alberta judge strikes down Elections Act provision requiring cash deposit to run federally (Global News)
- Election Deposit Rules Explained: Who Gets a Refund and Who Loses It? (Live Chennai)
- Eligibility & Rules for Security Deposit in Elections (Bihar Election News)
