Most SC/ST candidates fight without the backing of a political party

Indicative data shows a decline in the proportion of SC and ST candidates who participated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections compared to previous elections

The participation of political contestants belonging to the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe has shown a declining trend over the years.

An analysis of data from the Trivedi Centre for Political Data (TCDP) at Ashoka University reveals that 1,575 candidates belonging to scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) participated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, constituting 19.6 per cent of the total candidates. The TCDP dataset provides caste details where available, so the trends should be considered to be indicative. It shows a significant decline from the previous elections in terms of share among total candidates.

The data considers candidates from both reserved and non-reserved constituencies where available. In 2019, SC/ST candidates also contested from 118 non-reserved constituencies, down from 350 non-reserved constituencies in 2014 elections. The Lok Sabha has 84 seats reserved for SCs and 47 for STs according to the 2011 census, according to Article 330 of the Indian Constitution.  

While the share of females in total SC/ST candidates contesting has recorded an increase, it still remains low. They accounted for 11.4 per cent of the total SC/ST contestants in 2019 compared to 8.2 per cent in 2014. On the other hand, males accounted for 88.6 per cent of the contestants.

Most of the SC/ST candidates fight without the backing of a political party.



In the previous general elections, 34.2 per cent of total SC/ST candidates stood independently. Congress was next with 7.3 per cent share, followed by Bharatiya Janata Party (7.1 per cent), Bahujan Samaj Party (7.1 per cent) and Bahujan Mukti Party (2.2 per cent).

The share of independents has varied from around 19 per cent to 35 per cent.

Among the states with the highest number of candidates, Uttar Pradesh leads with a higher share of contestants from SC/ST background in the state. Out of the total candidates contesting from UP, the share of SC/ST was 20 per cent. Next was Karnataka (19 per cent), followed by Maharashtra 17 per cent, Tamil Nadu (15 per cent) and Bihar (12 per cent).