In the upcoming elections, the BJP and Congress have revealed details about the candidates they’re fielding. From the BJP, 27% of the 432 candidates announced are from the Other Backward Class (OBC) category. The Congress, on the other hand, has 24.8% of their 294 candidates from the OBC category. While the Congress has been vocal about OBC representation, the BJP seems to have a slightly higher proportion of OBC candidates.
The BJP is also giving more tickets to candidates who are not from OBC or Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) backgrounds, with 43% of their candidates falling into this category, compared to 36% for the Congress. However, it’s essential to note that the Congress is contesting fewer seats this time and has alliances with other parties, making direct comparisons complex.
TS Singh Deo, a member of the Congress’s central election committee, mentioned that their allies like the RJD in Bihar and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, both strong among OBCs, have been given seats. Laxman Singh, head of the BJP’s OBC cell, emphasized that their party aims to represent OBCs because they constitute over 50% of the population.
To simplify the discussion on caste, both parties were asked to categorize their candidates based on caste. This election sees heightened attention on caste, particularly with the demand for a caste census by the INDIA bloc. Rahul Gandhi’s slogan “Jitni Abadi, Utna Haq” (Rights proportionate to numbers) underscores the Congress’s effort to attract OBC voters from the BJP.
While 131 constituencies are reserved for SC/ST candidates, making analysis less relevant, the Congress has nominated a higher percentage of candidates from minority communities (9.18%) compared to the BJP (2%).
Political scientist Kancha Ilaiah expressed disappointment with the Congress’s lower number of OBC candidates but noted the financial challenges they face. He highlighted that election funding has become communalized, leaving the Congress with limited resources to support marginalized candidates. This financial constraint might explain why they have fewer OBC candidates compared to the BJP.
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