Haryana polls: Battle for Dalit vote heats up as Mayawati, Chandrasekhar enter fray.

As the Haryana Assembly elections approach, the battle for the Dalit vote intensifies with both the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Azad Samaj Party entering the fray.

Amitabh Tiwari ,

Posted By: Manisha Pandey.

As the Haryana Assembly elections draw closer, the battle for the Dalit vote is heating up with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Azad Samaj Party entering the poll fray. While Abhay Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal has allied with Mayawati, Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party is teaming up with Chandrasekhar Azad in a bid to woo the Scheduled Caste voters.

The INLD will contest 53 seats, and the BSP 37, including all SC reserved seats. On the other hand, the JJP will contest 70 seats and the ASP 20. The BSP’s influence is declining in the state, and its overall vote share went down from 6.7 per cent in 2009 to 4.2 per cent in 2019. The Congress, which is trying to create a social combination of Jats plus Dalits plus Muslims, is wary of such a move potentially aimed at splitting the SC vote.

SCs account for 20.2 per cent of the state’s population as per the 2011 census and there are 17 reserved seats for the community in the Assembly. In rural areas, the SC population is 22.5 per cent and in urban areas, 15.8 per cent.

The largest share of the Scheduled Caste population was recorded in the Fatehabad district (30.2 per cent), followed by Sirsa 29.9 per cent, and Ambala 26.3 per cent. The lowest was reported in Mewat at 6.9 per cent, Faridabad at 12.4 per cent, and Gurugram at 13.1 per cent. Scheduled Castes voted in large numbers for the INDIA bloc — the Congress plus Aam Aadmi Party alliance — in the 2024 general elections. About 68 per cent of Dalits (+40 per cent) backed INDIA while 24 per cent backed the Bharatiya Janata Party (-34 per cent). This massive switch resulted in a gain of eight per cent vote share for INDIA, and a loss of seven per cent for the BJP, leading to a swing of 15 per cent votes against the latter.

Courtesy : India Today

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