With its glorious performance in the recently held Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the BJP has returned to power in India’s most populous state with a 2/3rd majority. As the party returns to power in a state plagued by casteist and communal politics, BJP has shown it has managed to rise above the traditional caste politics.
Out of the 370 seats it contested, BJP managed to win 255 seats, for a 69% success rate. By winning seats across the board among various demographics, BJP has disproved the traditional caste and religion equations followed by psephologists from Noida. It was widely believed that the elections will go down traditional caste lines. Some of the opposition parties were so sure of this caste based voting that they spent 5 years addressing Yogi Adityanath as Ajay Bisht in order to portray BJP as party of Thakurs.
However, once the results were out, people found out that the Thakurs voted for BJP, as did Brahmins, as did Jats, as did Dalits, and even Yadavs and Muslims. Some of the ‘safe seats’ for Samajwadi Party ended up going with BJP because of some Yadav-Muslim votes going with the ruling party.
Brahmins, Thakurs, Jats, Yadavs, Dalits, and Muslims are the main segments of the society in Uttar Pradesh who influence most of the seats in the state. Even among Dalits, there is a clear distinction between Jatavs and Non-Jatav Dalits and their voting patterns. It, therefore, becomes necessary to see how the BJP has performed in the constituencies dominated by these communities and how it won across the board.
BJP has comfortably won in Brahmin majority seats
The number of Brahmin voters in Uttar Pradesh constitute around 14%. In 115 seats of the state, it is the Brahmin voters who end up deciding the winner and the loser. So, all political parties were taking special efforts to lure the Brahmin voters ahead of the elections. Ever since the Yogi government came to power in 2017, CM Yogi Adityanath was accused of being anti-Brahmin. The encounter of dreaded don Vikas Dubey, who killed eight policemen, gave the opposition a chance to label Yogi Adityanath as an anti-Brahmin figure.
Some Brahmin MLAs of the BJP also questioned the government on the issue. Before the elections, the opposition made all sorts of promises to woo this Brahmin vote bank but to no avail. The results of the top 10 Brahmin dominated assembly seats show that the Brahmins very much kept their faith with the Yogi government. Out of these ten constituencies having a Brahmin population from 90000 to 160000, BJP won 9 while Samajwadi Party managed to win one.
Dalit voters chose BJP
Election after election, BJP’s vote share among dalit voters keep rising even if JNU activists keep trying to portray BJP as an anti-dalit party. In the Uttar Pradesh elections, once again BJP got overwhelming support from the dalits, not just from non-Jatavs but also from BSP’s Jatav vote-bank. Even Mayawati admitted that the fear of Samajwadi Party’s goonda raj made many dalits vote for BJP.
8 out of the top 10 Thakur majority seats elected a BJP candidate
As soon as Yogi Adityanath became the CM, he was accused of favoring Thakur leaders and officers, and his birth name was used by all leftist media outlets. There were also allegations of posting only Thakur officers in government jobs, similar to Akhilesh posting Yadavs during his time.
The Thakur class is considered to be the opinion makers in Uttar Pradesh. That is why no one can ignore them, particularly when incumbent CM’s Thakur ancestry was made such a big issue. During the 2022 elections, BJP expectedly emerged as a winner in the Thakur dominated seats winning 8 out of the 10 seats with highest Thakur population.
BJP has caused a dent in Yadav-majority seats in Uttar Pradesh
The loyal Samajwadi voter, Yadavs, who are 9% of the population in UP are one of the most significant vote banks in the state. If you look at the results of the top ten Yadav majority seats, Samajwadi Party has won 7 out of them. All these seats are in close vicinity of Etawah and a traditional bastion of the Party.
However, BJP with its ally Apna Dal has managed to win 3 seats out of these ten Yadav majority seats. In Chhibramau and Bakhshi ka Talab constituencies, voters preferred BJP candidates. BJP’s ally Apna Dal candidate won in Kayamganj giving BJP another seat in the Yadav stronghold.
BJP triumphed in the Jat dominated assembly seats
Jat voters constitute around 6 to 7 percent of the voters in Uttar Pradesh, but their influence rises significantly in western UP. After the farmers’ protest against the farm laws, it was widely expected that western UP will deliver a big blow to BJP.
Source: India Today
However, the results from western UP suggest that nothing of that sort happened. Even though Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) managed to retain their core Jat voters, a large number of Jats still ended up voting for BJP. The results of the top ten Jat populated seats show that BJP has managed to win most of them.
BJP starts entering into the Muslim-dominated seats
Uttar Pradesh has around 20% Muslim population. There has been a lot of resentment in this section about the BJP government. BJP has been described as an anti-Muslim party even though BJP governments extend maximum welfare funds to Muslim communities.
Still, surprisingly, the BJP has won 2 out of the top ten Muslim majority seats where the Muslim population ranges from 168000 to 250000. BJP has won in Dhaulana and Saharanpur, while Samajwadi Party has managed to expectedly win the other 8 such seats. Notably, the AIMIM party of Asaduddin Owaisi has miserably failed in these constituencies.
This performance of the BJP demonstrates how it has made the Uttar Pradesh voters transcend above caste and religious barriers, and vote for law & order and development.
