Indian Politics & Policy Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2020

Understanding Voting Patterns by Class in the 2019 Indian Election Table 5: Caste Community AMONG* Party voted for Lok Sabha 2019 * Economic Class Cross-Tabulation (Figures in %) Economic Class Upper Caste Congress Congress allies Party voted for Lok Sabha 2019 BJP BJP allies BSP+ Left Others Poor 9 5 49 8 2 2 25 Lower 12 5 49 9 2 1 21 Middle 14 7 52 6 2 4 17 Rich 12 5 58 6 1 1 17 Total 12 5 52 7 2 2 19 OBC Poor 12 5 46 10 4 1 22 Lower 16 8 42 10 5 1 18 Middle 18 8 42 12 4 2 14 Rich 17 9 46 9 4 1 14 Total 15 7 44 10 5 1 18 SC Poor 14 3 34 8 14 3 24 Lower 23 6 34 6 10 2 20 Middle 24 7 30 6 10 2 19 Rich 26 18 35 4 2 1 16 Total 20 6 34 7 11 2 21 ST Poor 27 5 44 2 1 2 19 Lower 36 6 40 2 2 1 13 Middle 30 5 48 2 4 2 9 Rich 35 6 47 1 3 1 7 Total 31 6 44 2 2 2 14 Muslims Poor 30 11 8 1 14 4 33 Lower 35 12 8 1 17 3 24 Middle 32 17 10 1 20 2 17 Rich 33 10 9 1 25 4 20 Total 33 12 8 1 17 3 25 Others Poor 14 6 28 6 7 4 36 Source: NES 2019 Lower 20 6 26 7 5 3 33 Middle 30 6 21 10 4 4 26 Rich 34 6 21 10 3 4 22 Total 23 6 25 8 5 4 31 gress among the Muslims, and relatively higher pro-Congress votes among the STs and SCs, although their vote too follows the broad national pattern. The spread in BJP preference between Upper Caste Rich (58 percent pro-BJP) and the SC Middle Class (30 percent pro-BJP, the least pro-BJP class among the SCs) is 28 percent and between the Upper Castes and SCs, it is 18 percent; far greater than spreads by class (the Rich-Poor spread is only 8 percent). 55

Indian Politics & Policy Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2020 | Page 59