By Shristi Srivastava

Introduction –

Uttar Pradesh is known for its diverse caste composition, with various communities exerting political influence at both local and national levels. Traditionally, caste like Brahmins, Thakurs (Rajputs), Yadavs and Jatavs have had a stronghold over different regions within the state. Political parties have historically relied on caste – based support, often selecting candidates based on their caste to appeal to the dominant groups in each constituency. This caste-based approach to politics reflects deep – rooted social structures and has shaped UP’s political landscape for decades. Over the years UP has played an important role in the national politics, eventually leading it to get the title of King Maker in the political realm of India, thus it becomes interesting to analyze the voting behaviors of voters of Uttar Pradesh in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections of 2024 by deriving the relation between dominant caste in the constituency and dominant caste of the winning candidate and identify any emerging patterns.

Background –

The correlation between the dominant caste in a region and the caste of winning candidates in PCs1 is a critical factor in understanding the political landscape in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Dominant castes often wield significant socio – economic power and have a strong influence over political outcomes, including candidates’ selection and electoral success. The caste of the winning candidate is often aligned with the dominant caste in each constituency, as political parties leverage caste alliances to secure votes. For instance, candidates from the Yadav community who are numerically superior in certain areas are often fielded in constituencies where Yadavs are dominant.

Parliamentary Constituencies

However, this also raises questions about the inclusivity and representation of the democratic process. When the dominant caste repeatedly secures political power, it can marginalize smaller or non-dominant castes, perpetuating inequalities and limiting political diversity. This trend not only affects the quality of representation but also influences policy priorities, often sidelining the needs and concerns of underrepresented castes.

For instance, the western part of the state has a significant presence of Muslim – dominant constituencies while the central and eastern regions show a mix of General, OBC and SC dominant areas. Study suggests the mix of dominant castes differs between the urban and
rural areas. The OBCs are scattered throughout the state with notable clusters in both central and eastern regions, highlighting the widespread presence of OBC communities.

The caste demography plays an instrumental role in defining the policy issues, representation and building the narrative for the constituency and for the state in the larger picture.

Analysis –

The map titled “Correlation between Winning Candidate and Dominant Caste”, presents the relationship between the caste of winning candidates and the dominant caste in various
Constituencies for the Lok Sabha Elections, 2024 in the State of UP.

In many constituencies, the caste of the winning candidate aligns with the dominant caste of the constituency. A case in point, constituencies with a dominant OBC population have elected an OBC candidate, similarly, general category candidates often win in constituencies where the General Category is dominant.

Out of 80, 23 constituencies with dominant general caste have parliamentarian from the general caste, showing 100% correlation between the dominant caste and caste of the winning candidate. Whereas there were 15 constituencies who have OBC as their dominant caste and their MP too comes from the OBC. On the other hand, there are 3 constituencies where Muslims are dominant, and the winning candidate too comes from the same. Whereas there are 6 constituencies where the dominant caste was not general, yet the winning candidate comes from the general category. On the other side there are 9 constituencies were the dominant caste is not OBC yet the winning candidates from these constituencies are OBC. With respect to Muslims, there are only 2 seats where the candidate is from Muslim community and the dominant caste is not from the said community. Thus, based on above data there are more than 50% of seats where the dominant caste and caste of the winning candidate aligns very well hence highlighting the relevance of caste in UP’s politics and how after decades it still dominants the political realm despite of advocacy for social reforms and equal representation.

Out of the 19 winning candidates who won the 2024 parliamentary elections and come from the schedule caste background, 17 comes from those seats which were reserved for the schedule caste in the elections, thus out of 80 there were only 2 seats where the winning candidate was from the schedule caste and the seat was not reserved. This highlights the social disparity that persists within the political and social realm of UP.

This also remarkably underlines along with establishing the fact that caste does play an important role in the politics of UP, in case of no reservation; how difficult it would be for the people coming from the marginalized section to secure their representation in the Parliament of the country. Lack of representation can have significant and multi – layered effects on the individuals and community of the vulnerable caste. It could lead to limited policy advocacy for the caste specific issues, reduced access to government resources and development, weakened voice in national debates, perpetuation of Caste based inequalities and so on. It could also imply that the people might lose in contributing from their perspective on building of policy issues and narrative.

Data Source –

Election Commission of India, Caste Census 2011, Indiavotes.com, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Centre for the study of Developing Societies (CSDS).