In the 13th parliamentary election, 20 out of 33 candidates in Sylhet district lost their security deposits across six constituencies. The unofficial results were announced on Thursday night by the district’s returning officer and Deputy Commissioner Sarwar Alam. According to the Election Commission’s circular, any candidate receiving less than one-eighth, or 12.5 percent, of total votes cast forfeits their deposit.

The results show that six candidates in Sylhet-1, three in Sylhet-2, four in Sylhet-3, three in Sylhet-4, one in Sylhet-5, and three in Sylhet-6 lost their deposits. In Sylhet-1, for example, 325,000 votes were cast, and candidates needed at least 40,692 votes to retain their deposits. Similar thresholds were applied in other constituencies, with several candidates from parties such as Ganadhikar Parishad, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, and Jatiya Party failing to meet the required vote share.

The forfeiture of deposits highlights the limited electoral support for smaller parties and independent candidates in Sylhet’s six constituencies during the 13th national polls.