LAHORE: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has withheld the security deposit submitted by 120 candidates contesting from 14 National Assembly constituencies in Lahore.

The contestants failed to procure one-fourth of the votes polled in their respective constituencies.

Under Clause 61 of the Election Act 2017, contestants for National Assembly seats need to submit Rs. 30,000 while provincial assembly contestants have to submit Rs. 20,000 with the Returning Officer as a security deposit.

Under the same clause, if a candidate obtains less that one-fourth of the total votes polled in the constituency, the security deposit will be forfeited in favour of the government and will not be returned by the ECP.

Of the 161 contestants that took part in the election from 14 NA constituencies in Lahore, 120 failed to secure the number of votes required to have the security deposit returned to them.

The sum of the security deposits withheld is Rs3.6 million.

A security deposit can also become non-refundable if application of return is not submitted within three months from the date of declaration of election result or, in case election is not held, from the date of termination of the proceedings of an election. INP