Chapter 4

NCERT
Class 10
Political Science
Solutions
4. State reasons to say that caste alone cannot determine election results in India.
Promo GIF

Question:

State reasons to say that caste alone cannot determine election results in India.

Answer:

The caste alone cannot determine election results in India because of the following reasons:

  • No majority of one caste in a constituency : No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single caste. So, every candidate and party needs to win the confidence of more than one caste and community to win elections.
  • No votes of one caste/community : No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community. When people say that caste is a vote bank of one party, it usually means that a large proportion of the voters from that caste vote for that party.
  • Candidates from the same caste : Many political parties may put up candidates from the same caste if that caste is believed to dominate the electorate in a particular constituency. All these factors divide the voters between two or more candidates. People within the same caste or community may have different interests depending on their economic condition. Rich and poor or men and women from the same caste often vote very differently. The ruling party and the sitting members frequently lose elections in our country. This could not have happened if all castes and communities were frozen in their political preferences. Sometimes the voters have strong attachment to political parties which is often stronger than their attachment to their caste or community. Thus it can be concluded that caste alone cannot determine election results in India.

Buy Latest Books

Teacher's Specimen