NDA prefers upper castes, mega-alliance opts for OBCs

Patna,(BiharTimes): Notwithstanding the claim of espousing the cause of the backward castes and Dalits the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA is essentially relying on the upper castes votes in the coming Bihar Assembly election.

Out of 243 seats the four parties of the NDA gave ticket to 85 upper castes men. Rajputs with 36 tops the list to be followed by Bhumihars 28.

So about 34.98 per cent upper castes got the ticket though their population is estimated to be something between 14 and 15 per cent.

In contrast the grand alliance gave 39 seats to the upper castes, which is very much in proportion to their population. JD(U) and Congress gave much more ticket to the upper castes than RJD, which is busy reviving Mandal passion. Incidentally, it did not field any Bhumihar candidate. On the other hand 16 out of 41 Congress candidates belong to the upper castes.

The grand alliance put up 64 Yadavs––48 by RJD alone. Besides, 33 Muslims got tickets from mega-alliance, while the NDA gave ticket to only nine from minority community––two by the BJP.

The mega-alliance is relying heavily on Koeris and Kurmis––the caste of Nitish Kumar––too. Thirty Koeris and 17 Kurmis got ticket.

But they gave seven ticket to Nishad or Mallahs against 12 given by the NDA. This is so in spite of the fact that the state government recently gave this influential EBC the status of Scheduled Tribe.