A total of 1,441 candidates out of 1,969 who contested the January 7 polls lost their security deposits for failing to secure the minimum required votes.

This is the highest since the 1991 election that was held following the restoration of democracy.

All candidates from 19 political parties, out of 28 registered ones, have lost their security deposits. Meanwhile, apart from the winning candidates, all other contestants lost their security money in 104 seats, and in majority of those seats, the winners were from the ruling Awami League.

Under the election law, candidates have to deposit Tk 20,000 to the Election Commission to run in the electoral race. To get the money back, candidates must obtain at least one-eighth of the total votes cast in their respective seats. Election experts said such a percentage is very unusual and reflects that the January 7 election was highly "uncompetitive and not truly participatory."

They also pointed out that many party-nominated candidates and independents joined the polls just to increase the number of contesting parties and candidates.

"Barring a few, these parties don't have the calibre to create competition in the polls. They don't have any support at all," Brig Gen (retd) Sakhawat Hussain, a former election commissioner, told The Daily Star.

"Most parties that joined the election are little known and newly formed. They participated to increase the numbers in the polls. This election was participatory in terms of numbers but to say the truth, it was not," he added.

"When there are no parties that can challenge the incumbents, that election can't be participatory," said Sakhawat.

Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said it was very unusual that so many candidates lost their deposits.

"This proves that the election was highly uncompetitive," he said.

POOR PERFORMANCE OF CANDIDATES

EC data shows that 1,969 candidates took part in the January 7 national polls. Of them, 1,532 were nominated by 28 parties, while 437 ran as independents.

Other than AL, the remaining parties included ruling alliance partners, little-known smaller parties, and newly-floated ones known as "king's parties".

Sixteen political parties, including BNP and its allies, and some leftist parties boycotted the election, demanding a caretaker government and saying that a free and fair election is not possible under the incumbent government.

The election results sheets show that a total of 1,441 candidates lost their deposits, and of them, 1,225 were party-nominated candidates and 216 were independents.

Meanwhile, all 265 AL candidates, 29 candidates from Jatiyo Party, and three from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal got back deposits.

Two each from Bangladesh Nationalist Movement and Workers Party also got back their deposits, while one each from Bangladesh Congress, Jatiya Party (Manju), Krishak Sramik Janata League and Kalyan Party got back their deposits.

At the same time, at least 942 candidates got less than 1,000 votes, and among them, at least 48 candidates got less than 100 votes.

The EC data also shows that only 28 candidates of two times opposition JP managed to get back their deposits. The party got 11 seats, although AL withdrew 26 party contestants in support of JP.

"This is a unique feature of this unique election," Sakhawat Hussain said, adding that "it proved that Jatiyo Party is losing their votes. They cannot even win the seats that were left out for them by Awami League."

"An election is called one-sided in the absence of formidable political opponents. It was clearly reflected in the recently held election, Badiul said.

HIGHEST SINCE 1991

EC did not publish any detailed report on the 2018 elections. In 2014 polls, voting was held in 147 seats as lawmakers got the others uncontested. A total of 390 candidates vied in that election and of them 163 lost deposits.

A total of 941 out of 1,557 candidates in the 2008 election lost deposits, 1,259 out of 1,939 candidates in 2001 polls, 1,760 out of 2,574 candidates in June 1996 polls, and 1,934 out of 2,787 candidates in the 1991 election lost their deposits.