Vers une désethnicisation de la politique en Inde ? La persistance du vote de caste

Abstract

While issue voting probably played a more important role in India’s 2009 legislative elections than had been the case in the past, this re-nationalization was not (apart from the decline of Hindu nationalist forces) reflected in a de-ethnicization of public space. On the contrary, affirmative action programs and the tensions to which they give rise reinforced the political role of castes by transforming them into interest groups to the detriment of the old system, which was founded on a community of shared values (those of the high castes). At the level of the states – the most important level in Indian politics today, even in the context of national elections – political parties are associated with castes that vote as a majority for one of them. In certain states, the Dalits are even about to transcend the divisions based on jatis identities and come together in support of a single party, the BSP.A key argument of supporters of re-nationalization, the extension of the Congress Party’s rule is thus the result of the fragmentation – and not the reunification – of the political landscape along caste lines. Indeed, in a one-round electoral system, even if it loses votes, the biggest party wins more seats (even if it loses votes) whenever the number of its opponents increases. ?