There are reserved constituencies in both Parliamentary and State Assembly elections. Scheduled Castes (usually abbreviated as SC), and Scheduled Tribes (usually abbreviated as ST) are castes and tribes included in the schedules published by the government to indicate these castes' and tribes' backward status. Until the 1970s, Dalit political aspirations were sought to be met through the Republican Party of India (RPI), which was derived from Ambedkar's Scheduled Caste Federation, and through scheduled caste leaders co-opted in the political mainstream - principally, the Congress party. While the RPI was rendered largely ineffective by internal strife, mainstream political parties did little more for Dalits than exalt them as vote banks.