Dec 18, 2017 08:26:02 (IST)
Gujarat Assembly Election 2017 - Caste And Other Swings
24-year-old Hardik Patel, the face of a massive agitation by the influential Patel or Patidar community for reservation in government jobs and colleges, asked his community to vote for the Congress to punish the BJP for not including them in castes that benefit from affirmative action. The Patel swing away from the party is expected to be the BJP's main loss, while its biggest gains are a 10 per cent swing in Scheduled Caste votes and a 25 per cent swing in its favour of tribal votes, a big focus of PM Modi's campaign to make up for any losses from an anti-incumbency sentiment. The Congress' last minute induction of young backward caste or OBC leader Alpesh Thakor is, however, not seen to have helped the party, with OBCs expected to be among the BJP's big strengths in these elections. 47 per cent OBCs are seen to back the BJP, while the party is also likely to score 57 per cent upper caste votes and 57 per cent tribal votes.
24-year-old Hardik Patel, the face of a massive agitation by the influential Patel or Patidar community for reservation in government jobs and colleges, asked his community to vote for the Congress to punish the BJP for not including them in castes that benefit from affirmative action. The Patel swing away from the party is expected to be the BJP's main loss, while its biggest gains are a 10 per cent swing in Scheduled Caste votes and a 25 per cent swing in its favour of tribal votes, a big focus of PM Modi's campaign to make up for any losses from an anti-incumbency sentiment. The Congress' last minute induction of young backward caste or OBC leader Alpesh Thakor is, however, not seen to have helped the party, with OBCs expected to be among the BJP's big strengths in these elections. 47 per cent OBCs are seen to back the BJP, while the party is also likely to score 57 per cent upper caste votes and 57 per cent tribal votes.