Afroz Alam

Electoral Dynamics of Caste and Community in India: a Study of Uttar Pradesh Since 1990 Afroz Alam

The contemporary electoral dynamics of Uttar Pradesh in India is marked by the crystallization of political identities along religion and castes lines. At the same time, the logic of "social engineering" to defragment the religio-caste identities for clear electoral purposes has also emerged as an attractive strategy so as to build a winning political alliance in the highly fragmented society of the state. In this process, Muslim and Dalit (Oppressed Castes) voters, who were otherwise neglected till 1980s, received a wider attention since 1990s as a strategically important coalition partner for the political parties representing the low castes. However, the increasing electoral significance of the caste and community, far from being relatively spontaneous, is deliberately engineered by the politicians and political parties for a clear electoral purpose. Realising the salience of identity politics, this book focused upon understanding electoral incentives for political parties in the electoral upsurge of Oppressed Castes and Muslims that is taking place in Uttar Pradesh since 1990s.