According to Section 158 of the Representation of the People Act,1951 a sum of Rs.10,000/- in the case of an election from an Assembly Constituency. (The amount of the deposit is half in the case of a candidate belonging to a scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe) is taken as a security deposit by the Election Commission.
And as per the above rules – “any candidate who gets less than 1/6th of the total votes polled will have his/her security deposit forfeited by the Commission.”
The votes will also include the Service Voters votes and Vote from Home in which case the Actual Votes polled will increase but the number is not huge and hence the impact would be minimal.
| VOTING | % | Total Voters | Actual Votes Polled | Minimum Votes required to avoid Deposit Forfeiture |
| Belagavi North | 59.53 | 248525 | 149338 | 24890 |
| Belagavi South | 63.4 | 245324 | 157788 | 26298 |
| Belagavi Rural | 78.7 | 253678 | 203241 | 33874 |
So from the above table, it is clear that for a candidate to save his deposit he must get a minimum of 24,890 votes in North, 26298 in South, and 33,874 votes in Rural AC.
| Ac name | Total Polled Electors | Minimum Votes required to avoid Deposit Forfeiture |
| Nippani | 187317 | 31220 |
| Chikkodi-Sadalga | 182530 | 30422 |
| Athani | 190910 | 31818 |
| Kagwad | 160889 | 26815 |
| Kudachi | 148908 | 24818 |
| Raybag | 164273 | 27379 |
| Hukkeri | 167183 | 27864 |
| Arabhavi | 189749 | 31625 |
| Gokak | 188653 | 31442 |
| Yemkanamardi | 165932 | 27655 |
| Belagavi Uttar | 149338 | 24890 |
| Belagavi Dakshin | 157788 | 26298 |
| Belagavi Rural | 203241 | 33874 |
| Khanapur | 160093 | 26682 |
| Kittur | 154977 | 25830 |
| Bailahongal | 150654 | 25109 |
| Saundatti Yellamma | 161827 | 26971 |
| Ramdurg | 153106 | 25518 |
The deposit is refunded when –
The candidate was defeated but secured more than one-sixth of the total number of valid votes polled in the constituency including the valid postal votes
(i) The candidate must have polled more than one-sixth of the total valid votes polled in the constituency as a whole in order to be entitled to their fund.
(ii) If the candidate has polled exactly one-sixth of the number of valid votes polled, the deposit will not be refunded.
(iii) If the candidate was elected, the deposit will be refunded even if he did not poll more than one-sixth of the valid votes.
It would be interesting to see how many candidates will be able to save their deposits.