Caste Calculus: Reddys, Kammas, and Kapus Across TDP, YCP, Janasena!

The MLA and MP candidate confirmation process is nearly done in Andhra Pradesh as the state is going to polls on May 13th. The leading parties are working on last-minute adjustments and rectifications, if any, but the majority of the candidate consolidation process has been wrapped up. Let us now take a look at the cast equations followed by the YSR Congress, Telugu Desam, and Janasena.

Speaking of traditional lineages, the three mentioned parties cater to three communities. YSR Congress has Reddy lineage, while TDP has Kamma lineage and JSP has Kapu affinity.

In terms of the number game, JSP has given 10 of its total 21 MLA tickets to Kapu candidates which means nearly 50% of the seats are for the party’s naturally-affiliated Kapu community.

Coming to the YSR Congress, the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led party gave around 50 MLA tickets to Reddy candidates. Essentially, nearly 1/3rd of the party’s candidates are Reddys. The MP candidates list of YCP is also dominated by Reddys as Jagan’s close men, Avinash Reddy, Mithun Reddy, Vijayasai Reddy, and Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy were all given the MP tickets.

Lastly, we have TDP and the Chandrababu-led party gave 32 of its total 144 MLA tickets to Kamma community candidates. This means 22% of the total allocation has gone to the Kamma community. Statistically, TDP followed the least caste-centric ticket allocation criteria.