Caste, Class and Vote: Consolidation of the Privileged and Dispersal of Underprivileged

Abstract

This article attempts to examine the combined impact of caste and class on voting choices. By using data from National Election Studies conducted by Lokniti from 1996 to 2019, the article seeks to situate the findings in the larger temporal frame of a quarter of a century. This allows us to also examine if changing patterns of party competition affect the impact of caste–class combined. The article argues that two patterns emerge: one is the consolidation of the more privileged social sections in terms of class and caste and the other is the dispersal of the less privileged. The latter, by virtue of their political dispersal, are unable to shape as a political force in both electoral politics and in agenda setting. This finding is partly an extension of the earlier findings that politics of backward castes hit a dead-end and politics of the poor never emerged as an all-India political alternative. Together with the earlier experience, the findings in this article throw light on the limits of democratization and on the prospects of politics of the less privileged sections across the country.