How the BJP and Congress vie to woo Lingayats and Vokkaligas

Ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka, the state’s two main rivals, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, have been campaigning at full tilt, making promises and launching barbs, all in attempts to secure a majority in the state’s 224-seat Assembly.

Crucial to this are the state’s Lingayat and Vokkaliga voters, who could sway the election in either party’s favour. Their hold over the state’s politics has led to both parties trying to please these communities. Lingayats comprise 17% of the population and Vokkaligas 11%.

The BJP has gone so far as to name over 100 candidates from these two communities, with 60 seats allocated to Lingayats and 43 to Vokkaligas.


In addition to representation in its potential government, the BJP has also recently ousted Muslims from the OBC reservation quota (four percent) and co-opted Vokkaligas and Lingayats into it by carving out two new reservation categories for these castes.

For Vokkaligas, this will take the reservation from the existing four per cent to six per cent, and for the Lingayats, from five per cent to seven per cent. Muslim reservations have now been moved to the economically weaker sections reservation in education and jobs.

In its Karnataka manifesto, the BJP has reiterated its stand of abolishing quota for Muslims in Karnataka and distributing the quota among castes from the OBC segment, a measure aimed to keep the caste equation in its favour while at the same time consolidating its Hindutva vote base.

The Congress, in retaliation, has announced that reservations would be hiked to 75 percent if the party forms the government. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah has seemingly based his promises on the caste census conducted in 2015, results of which have not been released yet.

Earlier in April, AICC general secretary RS Surjewala and Karnataka state Congress president DK Shivakumar attacked the ruling party, at a media conference, for first promising increase in reservation to Lingayat, Vokkaliga and SC/ST community members and later backing out in the Supreme Court.

The saffron party, meanwhile, has been making consistent efforts to endear itself to the two communities.

In 2020, the Karnataka government set up the Veerashaiva Lingayat Development Authority, and then, a year later it set up the Vokkaliga Development Board.

When the BJP came to power in 2019, it appointed three deputy chief ministers, including one each from Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.

When BS Yediyurappa was removed as the chief minister, he was replaced with Basavaraj Bommai, another Lingayat leader.

Both parties are using community-based reservations as a platform to appeal to the LIngayats and Vokkaligas. All this while, the Supreme Court has been hearing a case against the reservations announced by the Karnataka government, and has said that the government order is based on "fallacious presumptions".

The next hearing is set for May 9, on Tuesday, which will play a huge role in deciding if the quota remains or not.