Take the examples of BJP's official CM candidate Sushma Swaraj and the Congress's quasi-official CM candidate Sheila Dikshit.

Dikshit, a Brahmin, is contesting from Gole Market where she is challenging the BJP's sitting MLA Kirti Azad, a Brahmin. Caste is the unique selling point even in Gole Market which is dominated by `cosmopolitan' government servants. Swaraj, contesting from Hauz Khas, is again a Punjabi. Her main challenge will be from another Punjabi, the Congress's Kiran Walia. Party activists say that the fact that she is a woman also went in Walia's favour when her name was finalised.

There are five widely-acknowledged `Brahmins seats' in Delhi: Shakur Basti where the contest is between Congress's Dr S.C. Vats and BJP's Gauri Shanker Bharadwaj; in Hastsal between Congress's Mukesh Sharma and BJP's Naresh Tyagi; in Nasirpur between Congress's Mahabal Mishra and BJP's Vinod Sharma, and Gole Market.

Then there are seven traditional `Punjabi seats' of Janakpuri where the contest is between BJP's Jagdish Mukhi and Congress's Shiv Kumar Sondhi; in Saket between BJP's Vijay Jolly and Congress's Tek Chand Sharma; in Geeta Colony between BJP's Darshan Bahl and Congress's A.K. Walia; in Rajouri Garden between BJP's Sashi Prabha Arya and Congress's Ajay Maken; in Rajendra Nagar between BJP's Puran Chand Yogi and Congress's Ram Ashish and in Kalkaji where the BJP's Poornima Sethi is facting Congress's Subhash Chopra. In six seats where it pays for a ticket-seeker to be either a Sikh or a Punjabi.

In Vishnu Garden, the incumbent is the Congress sitting MLA Mahinder Singh Saathi, a Sikh. Against him this time is Tanwant Singh, another Sikh. In Moti Nagar, Congress's Kamaljeet Namdhari, a Sikh, is pitted against BJP's Avinash Sahni who is a Punjabi. Other such seats are Tilak Nagar, Hari Nagar, Jangpura and Gandhi Nagar.

Officially neither Congress nor BJP agree that caste is the criterion. But they blame each other for the spreading casteism in politics.