The Jatavs are numerically the strongest Scheduled Caste (SC) in Uttar Pradesh and have always stood by the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Jats have mostly sailed with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in western Uttar Pradesh.
Social historian Badri Narayan attributes the high voting numbers to a mobilisation of the forward castes.
"The non-SC voter in these constituencies has generally been passive. This voter is now active but it will be difficult to predict which way he is voting," Narayan told IANS.
Much has also been made of the shift of the Dalit vote to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi when it netted 29 percent of the Dalit vote, pushing the BSP to the fourth place with just 8.9 percent of votes.
