LS polls: AAP hopes to win back upper caste, OBC votes
NEW DELHI: For the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections the major task for the AAP would be hitting at the upper caste and the OBC vote bank, election observers in the party found. The upper caste and OBC vote base which were earlier with the Congress but shifted to the BJP in 2014 election, showed election think tank surveys.
According to surveys AAP already has a storing base among Muslims and Dalits in Delhi. A study by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) 56 per cent of Muslims voted for the AAP in 2014 and 41 percent Dalits who were earlier in 2009 with the Congress, voted for AAP in 2014. In 2009 78 per cent of Muslims voted for the Congress followed by 58 per cent of Dalits. The Congress also lost much of its Sikh vote to the BJP in 2014 and the Dalit vote to AAP. The Other Backward Classes vote, meanwhile,
shifted partly to the BJP and partly to AAP. By the 2015 election, the Congress retained substantial support among only the Muslims. But even then a section of the community went with AAP.
Meanwhile, from the AAP and Congress, the upper caste votes in the last election shifted to the BJP. In 2014, the BJP won support from large sections of upper, middle and lower classes compared to 2013. The Congress's vote share among all three classes fell, while AAP saw a slight increase in support among upper and middle classes but a large swing in its favour among lower classes. "In elections, we cannot only focus on some group of people but every factor are being studies and then we are communicating the findings with the candidates," said a leader of AAP.
He also added that all the candidates would also do their own study on the demography and past voting percentage.
'We have representations from all the sections of the scoitiey and we believe in walking with everyone. Caste-based politics is done by the BJP. We have already said how names of people from various name were deleted from the voter list,"
said the leader.
Party sources said that AAP Delhi convenor Gopal Rai will lead the day to day affairs of the election in the state. The party will also plan big to medium rallies in Delhi. A section of the party leaders also expressed that leaders like Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu and West Benga CM Mamata Banerjee should be invited to campaign for the AAP.
