How caste is influencing politics

However, we also need to keep in mind that the caste system always does not play a role in shaping politics or deciding the candidates from a constituency. This is due to the following reasons:

• Not every constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single caste. Therefore, every party is required to win the trust of the people belonging to different castes.
• No political party wins all the votes of a particular favoured caste or community. When people say that caste is a ‘vote bank’, they simply mean that many people from that one particular caste may vote for the party.
• Because several political parties fight elections, there may be many candidates from the same caste fighting elections against each other.
• It has been seen that many elected MPs or MLAs may lose the elections. If candidates are elected on caste lines, then no candidate can ever lose the elections.