How voters from different castes, communities voted in Himachal Pradesh? Premium

The shift in support base of the BJP among voters belonging to different caste/communities has resul

The shift in support base of the BJP among voters belonging to different caste/communities has resulted in a decline in the BJP’s vote share. The BJP’s vote share declined by 5.8% compared with the 2017 election.

The two castes which play an important role in the State politics are the numerically dominant Rajputs and Brahmins. Evidence from Lokniti-CSDS post-poll survey suggests the BJP continued to enjoy an advantage over the Congress among these two communities, as larger numbers of Rajputs and Brahmins voted in its favour.

This had been the case in 2017 also and this election hardly witnessed any significant shift in the voting patterns of both these castes, except a minor shift amongst the Rajputs towards the Congress. This may be due to the mild sympathy which the Congress was able to generate as it invoked the legacy of Vir Bhadra Singh and asked vote in his name. Voters from other upper castes preferred the BJP over the Congress.

The Central government’s decision to give the status of Scheduled Tribe to people belonging to Hatti community of the trans-Giri region of Sirmaur was seen by many as a strategy to win over the voters of this community.

This decision by the Centre had a strong reaction from the SC communities in Sirampur and other communities also. Findings of the surveys suggest that the BJP seems to have gained some advantage from this decision, as among those who supported this decision of the government, 54 % voted for the BJP, while only 15% among those who are fully opposed to this decision voted for the BJP (Table 1).

It is important to note that the BJP managed to make inroads among voters belonging to the ST community. The survey indicates that 60% of the ST voted for the BJP, an additional 10% support among the ST for the BJP compared with the 2017 Assembly election.

But what seemed to have given the Congress the advantage is its popularity among the Dalit, the OBC and the Muslims. Among all these three communities not only the Congress increased its support base, it took a significant lead over the BJP in this election.