Also read: All you need to know about the Karnataka elections

BENGALURU: Wooing the Dalit votebank is among the priorities for the main rivals in the Karnataka polls and, it would appear, with good reason: they make up about 20% of the state’s population and can drive the result in about 100 seats, of which 36 are reserved for SCs.But it is unlikely that Dalit votes would go en bloc to any one party as the trend in recent times is of the community’s votes getting divided, something that can be explained by the categorisation of the community in the state into so-called ‘untouchable’ Dalits (Madigas) and others (Holeyas). While the Holeyas and similar Dalit groups — Congress veteran Mallikarjuna Kharge represents this category — are seen to be behind Congress, the Madigas, angry at the non-implementation of the Justice A J Sadashiva Commission report on internal reservation, are said to be supporting BJP . Some have even joined JD(S) or BSP.The Centre for Studies of Developing Societies (CSDS) says that about 50% of the Dalit votes in the past used to go to Congress while BJP’s share was only 20%. But a change was seen in the 2008 state polls when BJP won 22 of the 36 seats reserved for SCs. Later, after Congress managed to bounce back in the 2013 assembly polls, winning 17 of the reserved seats, the trend of Dalit votes getting divided became the new normal.The Justice Sadashiva Commission, which studied methods of equitable distribution of reservation facilities among SCs, recommended reservation by broadly reclassifying all 101 Dalit groups in the state into four sections. Of the 15% reservation provided for SCs, it recommended 6% to the so-called ‘untouchable’ groups, 5% to the other groups, 3% to ‘nonuntouchables’ and 1% to other SC groups.“We’ve been seeking implementation of the report for four years but the Siddaramaiah government has not heeded our request under pressure from other Dalit communities,’’ says C N Muniyappa, a Dalit leader. In such a scenario, the JD(S), supported by BSP, could be looking to get Dalit backing in key seats. HD Deve Gowda, in an interview to TOI, was confident about the Mayawati-led party “winning some seats in Mysuru, Mandya and Bidar”.But a former BSP leader said: “The real task for Dalits remains conquering the political space. There’s a strong perception that BJP and JD(S) have an understanding and BSP is only helping them by eating into traditional Dalit votes of Congress.”As for BJP, it has some firefighting to do over last month’s Supreme Court verdict diluting the SC/ST Act and subsequent violence that left four Dalit activists dead in north India. “The SC/ST Act is sacrosanct for Dalits. There is a general feeling that Dalits’ rights, safeguarded by the Constitution, are under threat in Narendra Modi ’s regime,’’ said Veeranjeneya, a Dalit Sangharsha Samithi activist.