One technical clause binds together all 16 candidates in the Assandh Assembly constituency in Karnal. None of them, including the winner, has commanded the minimum number of votes required to secure the safety deposit. Even the winner, Zile Ram Sharma of the Haryana Janhit Congress, has fallen short by 1,100 votes.

The Election Commission’s rulebook makes it clear that a candidate must secure at least one-sixth of the total votes polled in his Assembly segment; otherwise he loses the security deposit of Rs 5,000.

Another rule in the manual, however, has saved Sharma by a whisker. Sub-divisional magistrate of Assandh Prem Singh said clause 3nb (II) rescues the winner only because he has finished ahead of the rest. Even if he gets less than the minimum required, the winner doesn’t forfeit the deposit and gets to keep his seat.

Sharma won 20,266 votes, whereas the minimum required was 21,369. The total votes polled were 1.28 lakh.

Election officials said competition between the candidates — representing all major parties this time—was very tough. They said most of them got between 13,000 and 20,000 votes.

Sharma, however, was not perturbed. He said: “I have defeated all candidates to win the seat. The returning officer has given me the winner’s certificate. That is all

I know.”