THWARTED FRANCHISE

Robertsganj, on the southeastern tip of Uttar Pradesh, is a study in how a coalition of other castes often defeats the aspirations of the majority caste among Dalits-in constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Castes

- SUNIL MENON

Chakia is an unclassifiable little blur of semi-urbanity caught in a stage of evolution somewhere between town and kasba. Instead of the road shooting straight southeast from Banaras to Robertsganj, the 'capital' of Son- bhadra district, a long, horseshoe detour brings you further out into these semi-hilly hinterlands. It's still Chandauli district, but a part of it that falls in the Robertsganj Lok Sabha constituency, which also covers all of Sonbhadra. The very southeastern tip of Uttar Pradesh, Sonbhadra is the only district in the state that borders four others: clockwise, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Here, a lot of things collide: ethnicities, languages, landscapes, histories.

The heterogeneity makes for complex electoral equations because Robertsganj-voting on June 1-is one of the 17 seats in UP that are reserved for the Scheduled Castes. There are 84 Lok Sabha constituencies across India that are kept for the SCs under Article 330 of the Constitution. All parties have to field Dalits here-scholars call it "compensatory discrimination", and it is intended to guarantee a minimum representation to these marginalised groups (as is done for Adivasis in the 47 seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes). In practice, however, instead of fostering leadership, that noble intent often devolves into its perverse opposite.

Pattern of Disempowerment