Caste-based voting is alive in Haryana, may help BJP in Assembly polls

The BJP swept all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. If the results are extrapolated, the party emerged victorious in 79 of the state's 90 Assembly segments

Is caste politics still relevant? Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after winning the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, said in this election people had decimated caste-based politics, which dominated the Hindi heartland. 

But an analysis of the results in Haryana reveals that caste-based voting is anything but dead. It could even help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win a second successive term in the state in the forthcoming Assembly polls.

The BJP has set for itself a target of “abki baar 75 paar” in the the Assembly elections, scheduled for October. The evidence of the Lok Sabha polls suggests it is an