How Indians will 'vote their caste' in huge state election


People queue to vote during the state assembly election, in the town of Deoband, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, February 15, 2017. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is voting in the biggest democratic election anywhere in the world this year. If it were a country, Uttar Pradesh - with a population of nearly 220 million - would be the world's fifth-largest.

Even though India today is a vibrant democracy, politics in the battleground state is still influenced by the Hindu caste system, a social hierarchy with its origins in antiquity.

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