"It is not just the upper caste vote but also the cadre of the B.J.P.'s parent organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, that has helped Nitish Kumar.
"Nitish Kumar, a quiet strategist, split the middle caste vote into two, and consolidated the most backward caste in his favor," said Ashwani Kumar, a political scientist at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, and the author of the book "Community Warriors: State, Peasants, and Caste Armies in Bihar".
Both of Andhra Pradesh's main parties seek to mobilise voters from all social strata, yet traditional voting patterns persist: 70% of Reddys (a prosperous land-owning caste) voted for Congress, despite the landslide against; 90% of Kammas, a rival group of similar status, backed the Telegu Desam Party of the chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, himself a Kamma.
Political power and a sense of "yes, we do count" kept many "backward castes" voting for the regional parties.
Perhaps democracy means leaders not asking you to cast votes according to your caste.
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