The Barmer Lok Sabha seat has an interesting battle drawn up not just in terms of candidates, but also in terms of caste. On this western-most seat along the Indo-Pak border, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have spared no efforts to ensure a win. It’s not just an electoral win, but also a battle of perceptions.

While the Congress has fielded Manvendra Singh (son of BJP stalwart former foreign minister Jaswant Singh), the BJP has expressed confidence in its former MLA Kailash Choudhary. Manvendra is a Rajput and Kailash belongs to the Jat community.

In the desert regions, water and loyalties run deep—especially for one’s caste. Barmer candidates belong to castes that are traditional adversaries, which makes the democratic battle even more aggressive.

Congress candidate Manvendra Singh, who quit the BJP last year.

The Parliamentary constituency of Barmer consists of eight Assembly segments—Jaisalmer, Barmer, Sheo, Baytoo, Pachpadra, Siwana, Gudhamalani and Chohtan—spread across the districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer. The dominant castes are Jats, Rajputs, Muslims, Dalits, General (Brahmin, Vaishya, and others). The Congress hopes to clinch the Rajput, Muslim, Dalit (Meghwal) combination. All three are not traditional BJP voters but had partly supported the BJP due to Jaswant Singh. With Manvendra having switched sides to the Congress, this vote bank would entirely move away from the party.

Rajputs are traditionally BJP voters and it would be easier to inflict damage into this consolidated vote bank standing behind Manvendra. But the Congress would find it difficult to break into the Jat votes as their only consideration for voting is caste. Their decades-old slogan is “Jat ka vote aur Jat ki beti Jat ko (A Jat’s vote and his daughter’s hand in marriage can go only to a Jat)”. Also, the Jat community aggressively ensures that every vote from the community is cast. On the other hand, the voting percentage of Rajput women is comparatively low.

Both parties have deployed the best resources at their disposal. The BJP looped in PM Narendra Modi’s rally and even newly inducted Sunny Deol (another Jat) to seek votes. But things are not so easy. There is a lot of turmoil within the parties, mainly due to the choice of candidates. Key leaders from the area are upset at being disregarded and are staying away from campaigning. The Congress’s Harish Choudhary, an MLA and minister, openly told his party so but after Modi’s rally, Choudhary has been rushed in the area.

The BJP organised a Narendra Modi rally to garner support for its candidate Kailash Choudhary.

Then there’s Colonel Sona Ram Choudhary who has vacated the seat. He had contested and lost the Assembly polls and is also said to be upset at being denied a ticket by the BJP. He stayed away from Modi’s rally but is now been seen seeking votes for Kailash Choudhary. This makes the going doubly difficult for both candidates who have to not just take on adversaries, but also keep their own flock together.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh too has been intensively active at the grassroots level in these border districts and its foot soldiers are concertedly campaigning on the seat to ensure a victory for Kailash Choudhary who is from Sangh stables.

During his campaigns, Manvendra talks about Nyay (justice) and Kailash about Vikas (development), but strategies revolve around caste and communities. There is no dearth of issues that should have been deciding factors on the Barmer seat in this election, but caste is turning out to be the biggest one. All poll strategy is now focused on caste equations.

Interestingly, both the candidates had contested the Assembly elections and lost.