BENGALURU: With Droupadi Murmu, a Santhal from Odisha, likely to become the first tribal and the second woman President of India, BJP is hopeful of consolidating its vote bank of Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Karnataka ahead of the assembly polls next year.
BJP won seven of the state’s 15 reserved ST seats in the 2018 assembly elections, consolidating its vote share and seat tally in the tribal belt, which is primarily concentrated in central and northern Karnataka. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party won both the reserved ST seats.