Voting rises in UP's reserved Lok Sabha seats

The Election Commission attributes this to its massive voter awareness drive and the revision of electoral rolls.

Some believe there is a new assertiveness among the non-Dalit voters in the reserved constituencies, leading to an increase in the voting percentage.

Prashant Trivedi, assistant professor at Lucknow's Giri Institute of Development Studies (GIDS), told IANS that these non-Dalit voters are reclaiming their political space in these constituencies.

"This is not just any election. It is very keenly contested. The non-Dalit voter wants to make his vote count," he says.

Trivedi's informal research in Muzaffarnagar following the riots of last year has revealed an interesting coming together of two traditionally rival castes, the Jatav and Jats, in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party.