The shifting of Dalit and the most backward caste votes away from the BJP is palpable, but it is difficult to assess how big these numbers will be. The BJP is banking on the leaders of the caste parties it has taken along in alliance to deliver once again.

In the southernmost Adivasi region of Rajasthan, the challenge to the deeply communal politics of the BJP and the opportunism of the Congress is building up election by election.

Iqra Hasan, the Samajwadi Party candidate from Kairana Lok Sabha, embodies hope for change in the region. Despite being one of only six Muslim candidates contesting in Uttar Pradesh, she garners significant attention, especially from non-Muslim constituents.

For over three decades, the Sangh parivar has used epics, such as the Ramayana, to mobilise marginalised castes.

Going by public popularity, Vasundhara Raje Scindia should have been the logical choice for chief minister. But the much-less-known Sharma has a history that fits with the Sangh parivar's agenda.

In the play of binaries, the most important factor is identity. Of voters, of candidates.

Alwar MP Balaknath's comparison with Adityanath, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, is deliberately and ubiquitously evoked by BJP on stickers, posters and billboards across the constituency.

Dalits are angered because a person accused of a vicious attack on a Dalit engineer has been given the BJP's ticket to contest, despite sustained pressure that led the Congress to deny him a chance to participate in the elections.

Four months after the December results, states going for assembly elections will be crucial battlegrounds in determining the shape of the 2024 government. The campaigns will be indicators of the strategies the two parties may adopt in the Hindi belt. 

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s record in governance, as even his opponents grudgingly concede, is largely praiseworthy.

Omair Ahmad's 'Tall Tales by a Small Dog' speaks directly to many of us today who read largely in English but still inhabit an emotional world shaped by the mother-tongues of our parents or grandparents.

The electoral implications of the SP-SBSP alliance, a significant coming together of a dominant and a most backward caste party, may not be as straightforward as it appears to be.

Baghpat is the heart of farmland politics, in the Jat belt of Uttar Pradesh, where political preferences are not dictated by people's needs, but by their last names.

While the state and its people were reeling from the pandemic, Adityanath’s office was busy tweeting about a parallel reality.

It is important to return to what the BJP’s 77 seats mean.

While Abbas Siddiqui's political entry has excited some young Muslims, many believe they should stick with the TMC because of the work Mamata has already done.

The constituencies which go to polls today in Bengal reflect perfectly the outlook of a deeply divided electorate.

It was through the persistence of men like Haripad and his brother that the RSS survived and grew across the state.

The youngest is 14. The oldest, 19. Between them, the four had dreams of running, playing cricket and earning enough for their families.

‘We’ve lost jobs, run out of all our money but the hardest thing is to be stripped off our dignity, to be treated like prisoners.’