A representative image of voting.
Credit: iStock photo
New Delhi: Dalits in Delhi are more inclined to vote for AAP in the Assembly elections though Congress is likely to attract more votes from the community at the expense of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. The BJP is likely to almost retain its Dalit votes, a survey claimed on Monday.
The exercise conducted by National Confederation of Dalit and Adivasi Organisations (NACDAOR) and The Convergent Media covering 6,256 people across Delhi between January 1 and 15 claimed that Dalit voters gave upper hand to AAP in 35 seats, followed by BJP 28, and Congress 7.
The survey, which included 2,574 women, claimed that 44 per cent of Dalits who were interviewed were voting for AAP in the February 5 polls, while 32 per cent of them said they would stick to BJP and 21 per cent to Congress.
Among these respondents, 53 per cent voted for AAP in 2020, BJP 33 per cent and Congress 11 per cent. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 52 per cent of the respondents voted for AAP-Congress candidates while 46 per cent voted for BJP.
All the three parties are vying for Dalit votes in the capital as they constitute around 16.7 per cent of the voters. Congress is eyeing to regain some space by concentrating on Dalit and minority-dominated seats in the capital while AAP has demanded a housing scheme for sanitation workers, who mainly belong to Scheduled Castes.
According to the survey, 51 per cent of respondents consider Kejriwal’s tenure as better than Sheila Dikshit’s, who got 32 per cent endorsement. However, 39 per cent of the respondents felt the Delhi government is responsible for pollution in the national capital.
At the same time, 38 per cent of voters believe that Congress is better suited to address their problems rather than BJP (33 per cent) and AAP (18 per cent). At the national level, 38 per cent considered Prime Minister Narendra Modi as popular compared to Congress’ Rahul Gandhi (33 per cent) and Kejriwal (18 per cent).
BSP chief Mayawati was chosen as the popular leader by only 3 per cent. Among the respondents, 3 per cent said they voted for BSP in 2020 Assembly elections while a little over 2 per cent said they would vote for the party this time too.
Among the women respondents, Rahul got the highest votes at 33 per cent followed by Modi (32 per cent) and Kejriwal (30 per cent). Mayawati got 3 per cent votes.
The study also showed 39 per cent of those who were surveyed felt the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is more friendly to the Dalits while 25 per cent felt the BJP-led NDA were friendlier. Another 23 per cent felt neither the NDA nor I.N.D.I.A. were friendly towards Dalits.