The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants its cadre in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh to ensure that the party’s hold over the substantial Dalit vote-bank– estimated to be about 21% of the state’s population — is strengthened and there is no recurrence of the 2024 narrative that claimed it was seeking an absolute majority to change the Constitution and alter caste-based quotas, said people aware of the details.
They benefited from targeted schemes such as housing and cooking gas subsidies, and they were given political representation which made them vote for the BJP. Because the party largely stood for identity politics,” said a senior BJP leader in the state who asked not to be named, the Jatavs, however, continued to support the BSP,. “The BJP has gained support from the scheduled caste communities post-2014, largely owing to the social welfare schemes of the government.
A second party leader said teams will be deputed across the state to highlight the schemes and other welfare measures from which the communities have benefitted. “The party cadre will also seek feedback on issues that need to be addressed…but primarily stress how the double engine sarkar (BJP government at the centre and state) and its sarvajan kalyan (welfare of all) has changed the lives of the poor and the marginalised,” the second functionary said, also asking not to be named.
Because of the opposition’s narrative, “The BJP’s vote share in the Lok Sabha polls (in UP) has been increasing: in 2014 it was 42.6%; in 2019 it was 49%; and then in 2024 it came down to 41% but that was. For the BSP the vote share has been on the decline: from 19.8% in 2014 it was 19.3% in 2019 and 9.5% in 2024.
In the state elections too we see a similar pattern,” the leader said.
He cites the pattern of vote share for both parties as an illustration.
The leader said the BJP’s overtures, in addition to the BSP’s own decline, resulted in a perceptible shift in voter preference. “In 2022 the SP’s vote share and seat share went up from 2017, indicating that they too benefitted from the BSP losing the votes…” said the second functionary.
