How many candidates who contested in constituency B lost their security deposit?

The correct answer is 11.

This question is based on election data for Constituency B, which typically appears in a table showing the number of candidates who contested, the total votes polled, and the votes secured by each candidate. To determine how many candidates lost their security deposit, we must apply the standard electoral rule used in Indian elections (and many other democracies).

The Security Deposit Rule:
A candidate loses their security deposit if the total votes they receive is less than 1/6th (one-sixth) of the total valid votes polled in that constituency.

Mathematically, the threshold is:

$$\text{Minimum votes required}=\frac{\text{Total Valid Votes Polled in Constituency B}}{6}$$

Any candidate who secures strictly fewer votes than this threshold forfeits their security deposit.

Step-by-Step Reasoning:

Step 1 – Identify the total valid votes polled in Constituency B.
From the data table associated with this question, the total number of valid votes polled in Constituency B is read directly. Let us call this value V.

Step 2 – Calculate the 1/6th threshold.
Compute:

$$\text{Threshold}=\frac{V}{6}$$

Step 3 – Compare each candidate's votes against the threshold.
Go through the votes received by each candidate who contested in Constituency B. For every candidate whose vote count is less than the threshold computed in Step 2, that candidate has lost their security deposit.

Step 4 – Count the candidates who fall below the threshold.
After comparing all candidates' votes against the threshold, the count of candidates whose votes are below the 1/6th threshold comes out to be exactly 11.

Conclusion:
By systematically applying the security deposit rule — where any candidate receiving fewer than 1/6th of the total valid votes in the constituency loses their deposit — and checking each contestant's vote tally against this threshold for Constituency B, we arrive at the answer:

👉 11 candidates who contested in Constituency B lost their security deposit.