India, April 20 -- Checking poll results on the website of the Election Commission of India usually means looking at who has defeated whom by how many votes. Our attention is largely focused on the top two candidates, and sometimes on the top three if the contest in a seat is three-cornered. What we tend to ignore is those who follow lower down, and there are often many of them.

The following puzzle is in honour of those who contest just because they feel like it or because someone has bluffed them that they could win, and who end up losing their security deposits.

#Puzzle 191.1

Our puzzle has five protagonists who are contesting as independent candidates in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry (each candidate in a dif...