Reserved seats without separate electorates left Dalits politically impotent for decades

Evidence

As Ambedkar saw it, “The increase in the number of seats for the Untouchables is no increase at all and was no recompense for the loss of separate electorates and the double vote” (BAWS 9, 90). Ambedkar himself lost twice in the polls in post-1947 India. It took more than half a century for Kanshi Ram, the founder of a predominantly Dalit party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, and his protégé Mayawati to succeed in a first-past-the-post parliamentary democracy. This happened despite the Poona Pact. Kanshi Ram worked for years, painstakingly making alliances with other subordinated castes to achieve this victory. To succeed in the elections, the BSP needed the peculiar demography of Uttar Pradesh and the support of many OBCs. For a Dalit candidate to win an election from an open seat—even in Uttar Pradesh—continues to be almost impossible. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 569

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how caste annihilation was implemented and its post-Independence electoral aftermath in India.