Refusal of alliance, Mayawati’s attack! How important is Dalit vote?

In view of the lok sabha elections, the stir among the parties regarding caste equation has intensified. All the parties are making strategies to woo their core voters as well as the voters of other parties. Meanwhile, the excitement in the country’s politics has increased with BSP supremo Mayawati’s announcement of contesting the elections alone.

 Dalit voters are considered the vote bank of BSP. In every election, all parties try to break into this vote bank. This is the reason why many leaders of the india Alliance want mayawati to join the grand alliance of the opposition. Let us tell you why Dalit vote is important and what has been the impact of Dalit vote in the last few elections. According to the data of CSDS Lokniti, if we talk about BSP’s support base in UP, the party did not get any seat in the 2014 lok sabha elections and got a total of 19.77 percent votes. In the 2017 UP assembly elections, the party won 19 seats and secured 22.23 percent votes.

BSP’s performance in the last elections

After this, in the 2019 lok sabha elections, BSP performed better than last time and won 10 seats and the party got 19.26 percent votes. Whereas in the 2022 UP assembly elections, the party could win only one seat while securing 12.88 percent votes.

How important is Dalit vote?

Now coming to the question that how important is Dalit vote? To find the answer to this question, let us look at the results of the last four lok sabha elections. In the 2004 lok sabha elections, congress got 26 percent Dalit votes, bjp 13 percent, BSP 22 percent and others got 39 percent Dalit votes. Whereas in the 2009 elections, congress got 27 percent, bjp 12 percent, BSP 20 percent and others got 41 percent Dalit votes.

 Both the times there was congress led UPA government in the country. After this, in the 2014 elections, congress got 19 percent, bjp 24 percent, BSP 14 percent and others got 43 percent Dalit votes. In the 2019 lok sabha elections, congress got 20 percent, bjp 34 percent, BSP 11 percent and others got 35 percent Dalit votes. In 2014 and 2019, the BJP-led nda government was formed in the country. In such a situation, you can imagine for yourself how important Dalit votes are to retain power at the Centre.

Courtesy : India Herald

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