UP Election: Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been taking multiple decisions to lure in the crucial Scheduled Castes (Dalit) voters. The community makes up over 21 per cent of the total population in the poll-bound state. While the voters of the Jaatav community have preferred the Mayawati-led BSP, there has been a split in the non-Jatav voters, especially the Pasi community.
Significance Of Pasi Community
The Pasi community is considered significant, as it has the largest population among the Scheduled Castes after the Jatavs. The caste group has influence in several constituencies of multiple regions, including Awadh, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, and Kashi. As per multiple studies, the community has a presence on around 100 of the total 403 constituencies of the state, reported the Indian Express.
What Is BJP's Strategy?
Earlier, BJP's state in-charge, Vinod Tawde, had called a meeting of public representatives and officials of the community on October 14, but it has been postponed until the next week. The party recently tried to increase its influence in the community by sending Priyanka Rawat to Rajya Sabha and appointing Krishna Paswan as a minister in the state government. However, senior leader Kaushal Kishor has openly expressed his displeasure over the party activities, a worrying sign for the BJP.
What Do Trends Suggest?
The BJP emerged as the single largest party in the assembly elections in 2017 and 2022 and the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019. However, it faced a major setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, primarily due to losing a significant portion of the Dalit vote base.
As per a post-poll survey of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS)-Lokniti, the INDIA bloc got 56 per cent of the non-Jatav and 25 per cent of Jatav Dalit votes, making the SP the single largest party.
Fight For Dalit Votes
The Samajwadi Party has tried to increase its significance by promoting its PDA campaign and promoting leaders like Priya Saroj. In response, the ruling party has launched multiple campaigns and schemes to lure in the Dalit voters. Apart from this, the BJP has also highlighted the law and order issue in its campaigns.