The Karnataka Assembly Election 2023 gained momentum after exit polls predicted a close fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. While the ruling BJP has been assuring that it will retain power in the southern state, the Congress, too, exuded confidence saying it will win this year's poll.

Meanwhile, HD Kumaraswamy Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) has remained positive about his party JD(S) having "an edge over the Congress and the BJP" in some belts. Besides, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the new entrant in the battle.

The major parties were in action to woo voters even before the poll bugle had sounded in the state. In the past few months, they announced key promises and launched yatras, but one factor remains dominant in the Karnataka election — the caste factor. The results for the elections to the 224 assembly seats will now be declared on Saturday, May 13.

Caste and the political slugfest

The BJP-led government in Karnataka made a crucial move earlier in March by scrapping the Muslim quota in the state, triggering a political slugfest in the state. The four percent reservation has now been re-apportioned equally to the Lingayats and Vokkaligas — the two powerful dominant communities of Karnataka.

The move left the Muslims to compete for the 10 percent reservation provided for Economically Weaker Sections of the general category, which is decided based on family income.

Besides this, the government also decided to accord internal reservation to the Scheduled Castes by increasing the quota for SCs from 15 percent to 17 percent.

While the new reservation policy has been welcomed by Lingayats and a section of the Dalits, it has drawn the ire of the Vokkaliga, Muslim and Banjara communities. Reportedly, members of the Banjara community fear that they may be kept out of SCs because of internal reservations.

This kind of a slugfest might impact the high-octane elections in the southern state, with speculations rife over which community will vote for which party in this year's state elections.

As the caste factor and politics gain heat in Karnataka, here's a look at how many seats were dominated by key communities — such as Lingayat, Vokkaligas, Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Muslim — in 2018 state assembly election and which parties gained the most.

Of Karnataka's population, Lingayats constitute about 17 percent, Vokkaligas 15 percent, OBCs 35 percent, SC/STs 18 percent, Muslims about 12.92 percent and Brahmins about three per cent.

Lingayat | 67 of the 224 seats are dominated by this community

Vokkaligas | 44 of the 224 seats are dominated by this community

There are 54 Lingayat MLAs across parties including 37 from the ruling BJP. Among the 23 chief ministers from the state since 1952, as many as 10 have been Lingayats, PTI reported.

OBCs | 24 of the 224 seats are dominated by this community

Muslims | 18 of the 224 seats are dominated by this community

The voting in Karnataka will take place on May 10 and the counting of votes will be held on May 13. Click here to check full schedule

(Data source: News 18)

First Published:Mar 31, 2023 12:50 PM IST