PANAJI
. Of these, 24 candidates forfeited nomination fee amounting to ` 40,000; 68 candidates managed to get a refund of ` 1,05,000.
In all, 39 candidates contested from 15 wards reserved for either other backward classes (OBC) or women in OBC or women and paid ` 39,000 towards the nomination fees; while 53 others had contested from wards allocated to general category and paid ` 1,06,000 towards the fees.
Interestingly, six candidates had contested from ward 2, of which four had to forfeit their deposit which was the highest among all the wards.
Presently, 50 candidates have filed their nominations from reserved wards and paid ` 50,000 towards the nomination fees; 45 others have filed nominations from general category wards and paid ` 90,000 towards the nomination fees.
Speaking to The Goan, Returning Officer and Deputy Collector Gaurish Shakhwalkar said, “The nomination fee (also called the deposit for elections) is refunded if the candidate manages to get one-eighth or more of the total number of valid votes. If not, the fee is forfeited.”
The candidates contesting from reserved wards have to pay ` 1,000 towards the nomination fee, while those contesting from general category have to pay ` 2,000 towards the nomination fee.
During the last CCP elections, State BJP, under the banner ‘Panaji First’ had fielded 30 candidates and all had managed to get their fees refunded. This time too, Panaji MLA Sidharth Kuncalienkar, who is spearheading the BJP panel, is confident that all his candidates will manage to get the fees refunded.
Taleigao Bigwig Babush Monserrate who too had fielded candidates in all the wards under the banner ‘Panaji City Corporation Development Fund’, informed that all his candidates had managed to get the fees refunded.
