The Bharatiya Janata Party has long been accused of mobilising voters on the Hindu-Muslim polarisation that remains quite visible in the non-nomination of Muslim candidates in parliamentary as well as state assembly elections. But when it comes to caste-wise representation in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the party seems to be finally paying attention to its past mistakes. However, much needs to be done.
The BJP, along with its allies, Apana Dal (S) and Nishad Party (NP), have finalised candidates for the 403 assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh. While several BJP leaders such as Asim Rai, Raj Prasad Upadhyay, Rishi Tripathi etc. have been contesting on the ticket of allies because they have a strong winning possibility, therefore, the BJP has lent them. Candidates from Apna Dal (S) and NP are also using BJP’s electoral symbol because their own parties are little known in some constituencies.
I provide a descriptive analysis of the caste composition of candidates of BJP and its allies for the ongoing assembly election in Uttar Pradesh. I have collected this data through phone calls and interactions with local office bearers and voters.
Category-wise candidate distribution
The figure below provides a category-wise description of BJP and its allies’ candidates. They have been arranged into four broader categories — dominant castes, oppressed castes, Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, and Muslims. Only one Muslim candidate has been nominated from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) group, who is from Apana Dal (S) in the Suar Tanda constituency of Rampur district. Neither the BJP nor the Nishad Party has nominated any candidate from the Muslim community.
The above figure reveals that dominant castes have been given the highest share in the candidate nomination of BJP and its allies. While 173 candidates have been nominated from the dominant castes, 143 have been nominated from the backward castes. Meanwhile, 86 candidates have been nominated from SC/ST groups. All SC/ST candidates have been nominated on the reserved constituencies.
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Composition of dominant caste candidates
Among all the 173 dominant caste candidates, the highest number of tickets — 71 — have been given to those from the Rajput caste, popularly known as Thakurs. Rajput candidates outnumber Brahmin candidates who have been given 68 seats. Brahmins acquire the second position with 68 candidates in this seat distribution. In the last two years, there has been discussion that the Brahmins have been sidelined in the BJP government, and due to which there has been an increasing Brahmin anger towards the Rajputs because of their majority in the Yogi Adityanath government. In the outgoing government, cabinet ministers from the Rajput caste surpassed the Brahmins. Now, the data indicates that Rajputs have surpassed Brahmins in candidate nominations too.
The Bania caste comes third in the sharing of tickets. They have been given 28 seats. Meanwhile, the Bhumihars, who are mostly present in some pockets of western and eastern districts of the state, have six candidate nominations.
Social engineering in backward castes
The composition of backward caste candidates of the BJP and its allies reveal that the alliance favours the Kurmi caste. This time, 34 candidates have been nominated from the Kurmi caste, and 25 from the Maurya, Kushwaha, Shakya and Saini castes. It’s possible that the BJP has fielded a significant number of candidates from Maurya, Kushwaha, Shakya and Saini castes due to fear of being deserted since two prominent leaders of the community jumped ship just before the elections.
The alliance has also nominated 17 candidates from the Jat caste, primarily in western Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, the Lodh caste, which has been a strong supporter of the BJP since Kalyan Singh days, has found 17 tickets to its name. The BJP-AD-NP alliance has also given 10 tickets to Nishal, Kashyap, and Bind castes, who are mostly spread in constituencies along the rivers. The Kalwars and the Telis have been given nine tickets, while only eight seats have been allocated to the Yadavs. Seven seats have been given to the Gurjars, and five to the Rajbhars. The remaining 11 seats have been given to the rest of the backward castes that are numerically smaller.
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Reserved constituencies
The BJP and its allies seem to have done a lot of homework in the distribution of 86 reserved seats. The alliance has given 27 seats to the Chamars and the Jatvas, who constitute around 60 per cent of the SC/ST population. Twenty-five Pasis have been given tickets, although they are not nearly as populous as the Chamars/Jatavs. The Dhobi caste will see seven candidates being fielded, while six candidates each from the Khatik and Kori castes have been accommodated. Three tickets have gone to the Balmikis. The rest have been given 11 seats.
The candidate composition of BJP and its allies reveal that Rajputs take the lion’s share in the overall candidate nomination, followed by Brahmins. The alliance seems to have gone deep into the social engineering of backward and scheduled castes and has tried to nominate as many castes as possible so that they can communicate and mobilise voters of their communities across the state.
Arvind Kumar (@arvind_kumar__), PhD in Politics, Department of Politics & IRs, Royal Holloway, University of London. Views are personal.
(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)
Source: The Print
