PETALING JAYA: A total of 99 election candidates in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya have lost RM990,000 in election deposits.

In other words, the Election Commission (EC) forfeited RM990,000 of deposits from election candidates contesting parliamentary seats in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya in the 15th general election.

Election candidates are required to pay RM10,000 deposit to the EC to contest a parliamentary seat. The deposit would be forfeited if they obtain less than one-eighth of the total number of votes.

Among those who lost their deposits included former minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin, former MP Tian Chua, former MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and others.

In Selangor, a total of 124 candidates contested 22 parliamentary seats, 66 losing their deposits.

In Kuala Lumpur, a total of 52 candidates contested 11 parliamentary seats, 30 losing their deposits.

In Putrajaya, three of the six candidates lost their deposits.

The independent candidates – 24 in Selangor, ten in Kuala Lumpur and two in Putrajaya, all lost their election deposits.

MCA only managed to retain its deposit in Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat where its candidate Datuk Chew Yin Keen secured 15,886 votes in a race Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail won with 43,476 votes.

MCA lost security deposits in five of the six parliamentary seats it contested in Kuala Lumpur and six of the eight parliamentary seats it contested in Selangor.

Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) led by former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad lost its election deposits in the 18 parliamentary seats in Selangor and five in Kuala Lumpur.

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia retained all deposits in Selangor but lost the deposits in two of the four parliamentary seats: Cheras and Bukit Bintang contested by its associate wings.

Gerakan lost deposits in four of six parliamentary seats, in Damansara, Kepong, Segambut and Seputeh.

Parti Warisan from Sabah, which fielded candidates to contest eight seats in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, also lost all the deposits.

Umno, despite not winning a parliamentary seat in Selangor, secured its deposits for all the seats it contested in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.