The security deposit submitted by 120 candidates contesting from 14 National Assembly constituencies in Lahore has been withheld by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) because 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 NA seats need to submit Rs30,000 while provincial assembly contestants need to submit Rs20,000 with the ECP as a security deposit.

Under the same clause, if the contestants fail to procure at least one-fourth of the total number of votes polled on election day, their security deposits are not returned to them by the ECP.

Of the 161 contestants that took part in the election from 14 NA constituencies in Lahore, 120 failed to procure the number of votes required to have the security deposit returned to them. The sum of the security deposits withheld is Rs3.6 million.