Between the Election Commission’s notification and the last date for nominations, anyone intending to contest must file papers with the Returning Officer for that constituency. Many filings do not survive scrutiny.
Who can stand
Broadly: an Indian citizen, a registered elector, and at least 25 years old for the Lok Sabha or a state Legislative Assembly.
You need not be enrolled in the constituency you contest; a candidate may stand somewhere they do not live. But under Section 33(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, no one may contest more than two constituencies in the same general election. Win both and you must vacate one, which then goes to a by-election.
Various disqualifications apply: certain convictions, holding an office of profit, being an undischarged insolvent.
Proposers
The nomination paper must be subscribed by electors of that constituency, and the number depends on the candidate’s backing (Section 33):
- One proposer for a candidate of a recognised national or state party
- Ten proposers for an independent, or a candidate of an unrecognised party
The ten-proposer requirement is a deliberate filter: it makes a frivolous independent candidacy meaningfully harder than a party-backed one, since each proposer must be a registered elector of that constituency and their details are verified.
The security deposit
A deposit must accompany the nomination. Since 1 February 2010 the amounts have been:
| Election | General | SC / ST |
|---|---|---|
| Lok Sabha | ₹25,000 | ₹12,500 |
| Legislative Assembly | ₹10,000 | ₹5,000 |
Under Section 158, a candidate who fails to secure more than one-sixth of the valid votes polled forfeits the deposit. It is returned otherwise. This is the origin of the phrase “lost their deposit”, and in a crowded field most candidates do.
The affidavit
Every candidate must file a sworn affidavit in Form 26 alongside the nomination paper, declaring:
- Pending criminal cases and past convictions
- Assets and liabilities, including those of spouse and dependants
- Educational qualifications
This is the single most useful document a voter can read about a candidate, and it is public. Affidavits are published by the Election Commission. Concealing or falsifying information is itself an offence.
Filing
Candidates can enter their details online through the Commission’s Suvidha portal, including paying the deposit. The printout carries a QR code, must be signed in ink and notarised, and is then hand-delivered by the candidate or a proposer to the Returning Officer, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on an appointed day. The online facility closes a day before the last date.
The delivery-in-person requirement is why nominations cannot be completed entirely online.
Scrutiny and withdrawal
On the appointed day the Returning Officer examines every nomination in the presence of candidates and their agents, and rejects those that are defective: wrong proposer details, an incomplete affidavit, a missing deposit, a disqualification.
A withdrawal window follows. Only after it closes is the final list of contesting candidates published, symbols allotted, and the ballot fixed.
Until that point, lists circulating as “candidate lists” are party announcements rather than the official ballot. Parties change nominees, papers get rejected, and candidates withdraw. Our Election Archive holds candidate lists from the 2016–17 cycle as a historical record of exactly that process.
The official forms are on the Election Commission’s nomination forms page.
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