True to its objective of reaching out to Muslims in the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has increased the number of seats allotted to the community.
It has finalised 97 seats for Muslims as opposed to 85 in 2012.
The decision is part of the party’s strategy to stitch together a Dalit-Muslim combine — which accounts for 40 per cent of the electorate. The caste identities of the candidates however, reflects a rainbow coalition.
The BSP supremo revealed her caste distribution across the 403 seats here on Tuesday, putting to rest speculations of an alliance in the coming polls. “We will fight on our own strength. Alliances are required by the weak,” she said.
Lion's share
In terms of the share of tickets, the upper castes still retain the largest share though marginally lower that 2012. The number of Dalits has also fallen marginally — from 88 in 2012 to 87. In addition to the 85 reserved seats, Ms. Mayawati has fielded only two more Dalits for general seats. In the final break-up, the party has nominated 113 upper castes with 66 Brahmins, 36 Kshatriyas and 11 from the Vaishya, Kayastha and Khatri communities. The share of Brahmins has decreased from 86 in 2007, when the party experimented with its Dalit-Brahmin social engineering, to 74 in 2012 to 66 in 2017. Brahmins form just nine per cent of the electorate but wield disproportionate influence over public opinion.
With Ms. Mayawati reaching out to Muslims, the share of the Other Backward Classes has also fallen to 106 from the 113 fielded in 2012. OBCs represent more than 40 per cent of the State's population but do not vote as a block .
In sum, Ms Mayawati’s allocation is 21 per cent Dalits, 24 per cent Muslims, 26 per cent OBCs and 28 per cent upper castes.
Ms. Mayawati stressed that the list was final and put together after “much thought”. Banking on the consolidation of Muslim votes, she appealed the community to unite with Dalits to ensure the defeat of the BJP.
Referring to the infighting within the Samajwadi Party, the BSP chief predicted that the Yadav vote, the core of the party, would be split between the factions led by Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav.
On her decision to announce the caste break-up of her candidates, Ms. Mayawati said it was to counter allegations that the BSP was a casteist party. Her party would contest the polls on the theme of sarvajan hitay, sarvajan sukhay or for the good of all and the happiness of all.
