New Delhi: At least six caste groups held meetings or press conferences in Rajasthan this month to exercising their political muscle to seek their share of tickets commensurate with their numbers from the Congress and the BJP. As leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress work over their lists of candidates for the December 7 Rajasthan Assembly elections, caste groups in the state are demanding tickets from the two principal parties.

The Meenas, under the banner of the Akhil Bhartiya Meen Sangh, wrote to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and BJP chief Amit Shah on October 19 to demand 15 tickets from each. The group claimed that Meenas comprised 7.5% of the state’s 13.5% scheduled tribe (ST) population. In Rajasthan, 25 seats in the 200-member assembly are reserved for STs.

In 2013, the BJP fielded 16 Meenas, of whom 10 won. The Congress gave tickets to 17 Meenas but only two were elected to the assembly. The two parties also respectively fielded 12 and 13 Bhil candidates, who are in the ST category.

On October 21, the Akhil Bhartiya Bairwa Mahasabha demanded 11 seats at a press conference in Jaipur. The organisation of Bairwas, a scheduled caste (SC), said its members should get two tickets in Jaipur and one each in Alwar, Bundi, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Dausa, Kota, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur and Tonk.

“There are about 1.7 million Bairwas in Rajasthan. In 2013, the BJP fielded eight candidates from our caste, and the Congress gave tickets to six. Four won on BJP tickets. This year, we are demanding 11 seats,” said the Mahasabha’s national president, Hari Narayan Bairwa. There are 34 seats reserved for SCs in Rajasthan.

The Mali community, to which former chief minister Ashok Gehlot belongs, has demanded tickets from 20 assembly constituencies, where, according to the Rajasthan Mali (Saini) Mahasabha, they are at least 25,000 in number.