India, Feb. 9 -- In the heat and dust of India's electoral landscape, the middle class appears perennially aggrieved. Largely composed of people who are salaried and decently off, come from urban or peri-urban backgrounds, and largely upper and dominant caste backgrounds, this group of voters often finds itself numerically outgunned in the electoral mathematical calculations of political parties. They may be more amorphous in their income distribution, but remain tethered by similar caste backgrounds, aspirations for mobility, governance concerns, and everyday civic requirements.

Delhi is an exception. The national capital is home to a phalanx of central and state government workers, as well as among the largest pool of salaried class em...