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compelled political leaders to gear up for the task of mobilising and
securing political support. It also brought new consciousness among
the low caste people.
The Indian Constitution is however not caste biased.
 No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of
one single caste. Hence, every candidate and party needs to win the
confidence of more than one caste and community to win elections.
 No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community.
Caste as a ‘vote bank’ of one party usually means that a large
proportion of the voters from that caste vote for that party.
 Many political parties may put up candidates from the same caste (if
that caste is believed to dominate the electorate in a particular
constituency). Some voters have more than one candidate from their
caste, while many voters have no candidate from their caste.
 The ruling party and the sitting MP or MLA frequently lose elections
in our country. That could not have happened if all castes and
communities were frozen in their political preferences.
Politics in Caste
 Each caste group tries to become bigger by incorporating within it
neighbouring castes or sub-castes which were earlier excluded from
it.
 Various caste groups enter into coalitions with other castes or
communities and thus enter into a dialogue and negotiation.
 New kinds of caste groups have come up in the political arena such
as the ‘backward’ and ‘forward’ caste groups.