Despite the BJP government increasing the reservation quota for the Scheduled Tribes from 3% to 7%, the party suffered shocking defeats in the reserved constituencies.
The party drew a blank in all the 15 constituencies reserved for the STs. While 14 seats were won by the Congress, the other seat was won by the Janata Dal (Secular). In fact, Minister B. Sriramulu, who was tipped as the leader of the STs, also lost.
The BJP failed to capitalise on its experiments with the reservation quota to the Scheduled Castes (SCs). While it increased the quota from 15% to 17%, it also announced internal reservation, a long-pending demand from the Dalit left communities. Both ST and SC reservation is yet to receive approval from the Centre. In the 36 reserved constituencies for the SCs, the BJP won 12, down from 16 in 2018, while the Congress improved its tally from 12 in 2018 to 22 this time.
