The contemporary electoral dynamics of Uttar Pradesh in India is marked by the crystallization of political identities along religion and castes lines. At the same time, the logic of "social engineering" to defragment the religio-caste identities for clear electoral purposes has also emerged as an attractive strategy so as to build a winning political alliance in the highly fragmented society of the state. In this process, Muslim and Dalit (Oppressed Castes) voters, who were otherwise neglected till 1980s, received a wider attention since 1990s as a strategically important...