BJP seeks to balance OBC, upper caste candidates in Haryana; Congress gives a third of tickets to Jats

Congress bets heavily on Jat support, fielding 30 candidates from the community; BJP returns to upper caste vote bank, fielding 27 Brahmins, Punjabis and Baniyas; Congress names five Muslims, BJP two

Caught in a direct contest in the high-stakes Haryana Assembly poll scheduled for October 5, both national parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, have tried to strike a fine balance between various communities in their ticket distribution, giving a sneak peek into the caste dynamics and social engineering each party is banking on.

Led by its former Chief Minister and prominent Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the Congress is betting heavily on the Jat electorate, who comprise around 20% of the State’s population. It is fielding 30 Jats, including three Jatt Sikhs, accounting for a third of the party’s 89 candidates. The Communist Party of India, contesting the Bhiwani Assembly constituency in coalition with the Congress, also fielded a Jat: Om Prakash, a former bank manager.

The BJP’s political strength in the State lies with non-Jat communities, and the party is facing the ire of farmers, most of whom are Jats. The party has fielded only 17 Jats among its 89 candidates, including a Jatt Sikh, Baldev Mangeana, from Dabwali. Together, they account for 19% of the party’s candidates.

Contesting the election under the leadership of Chief Minister Nayab Saini, who is from an other backward class (OBC) community, the BJP has fielded 21 OBC candidates. This is four less than the 25 OBC candidates contesting on the Congress’s symbol. The BJP’s OBC candidate for Sirsa, Rohtash Jangra, had withdrawn his nomination on September 16.

Upper caste votebank

By reducing its OBC candidates, however, the BJP has tried to accommodate more nominees from its traditional upper caste vote bank, comprising the Brahmins, the Punjabis, and the Baniyas. Union Minister Manohar Lal, who led the Haryana government for ten years, is also a Punjabi leader from the State.

Though these three communities comprise just 20% of the State’s population, they account for 30% of the BJP’s candidates, including 11 Brahmin candidates, 11 Punjabis and five Baniyas. The Congress, on the other hand, has fielded five Brahmins, seven Punjabis and two Baniyas, comprising around 15% of the party’s candidate list.

The Brahmins, snubbed by both parties in the 2019 Assembly poll with each party giving them just half-a-dozen seats, had demanded 20 seats this time around from any national party seeking the community’s support.

Rajputs, Ror and Bishnois, all falling in the general category, have also found a place among the nominees of the two parties.

Social engineering

Among the OBCs, the Ahirs and the Gurjars have got the lion’s share, with both parties fielding 13 candidates from the two communities. There are also candidates from the Saini, Kamboj, and Kashyap communities. The BJP has fielded two Muslims, who fall under the OBC category, while the Congress has fielded five.

There are 17 seats in the 90-member Haryana Assembly which are reserved for candidates from Scheduled Caste communities, who comprise around 20% of the State’s population.

Commenting on the social engineering of the two parties, Rajendra Sharma, head of the political science department at Maharishi Dayanand University, said the ticket distribution showed that the BJP, facing anti-incumbency, has chosen to return to its traditional upper caste and urban vote bank of Brahmins, Baniyas and Punjabis. The Congress, as expected, is relying on the Jat vote bank, he said.

Published - September 18, 2024 10:24 pm IST