Representative image indicating the Lok Sabha elections whose results were declared on June 4
Credit: iStock Photo
New Delhi: The 'Save Constitution' campaign unleashed by the I.N.D.I.A. bloc has hurt the BJP as it lost 16 seats, reserved for Scheduled Castes, it won five years ago while Congress and the Samajwadi Party hit the jackpot in such seats together winning 27 such constituencies.
This time, BJP has won 30 seats reserved for SCs as opposed to the 46 it got in 2019, while Congress has improved its numbers from six to 20 and SP from zero to seven.
In the SC category, BJP has done better than Congress in every Lok Sabha election since 1998 except in 2009 when the UPA returned to power for a second consecutive term under Manmohan Singh.
The number of SC reserved seats has risen from 79 to 84 in 2009.
Analysis of the winners and losers in SC reserved seats showed that 39 belonged to NDA while I.N.D.I.A. bagged 42. Three, including Asad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram)'s Chandrasekhar, belonged to others.
Among the I.N.D.I.A partners, Trinamool got six Dalit reserved seats while DMK got three, VCK 2, and CPI(M), Shiv Sena (UBT), AAP and CPI one each.
Congress, in Telangana, won all three SC seats, and clinched both SC seats in Haryana as well. The grand old party bagged two out of five SC seats in Karnataka, one of two in Kerala, four of five in Maharashtra, two of four in Punjab, three of four in Rajasthan, one of seven in Tamil Nadu and one of 17 in UP.
BJP got eight SC seats in UP, four in Madhya Pradesh, four in West Bengal, three in Delhi, three in Odisha, two each in Karnataka and Gujarat, and one each in Rajasthan and Assam.
In Uttar Pradesh where BJP won 14 SC seats in 2019, it has lost six seats while SP gained seven and Congress 1. Chandrasekhar was another winner. In West Bengal, BJP's tally came down to four from five while in Rajasthan, its count dropped to just one - a far cry from all of the four seats the saffron party had clinched five years ago.
BJP, which won all six SC seats in Karnataka last time, bagged only three this time while Congress won two and JD(S) one. Maharashtra was another such case -- BJP won four and Shiv Sena one in 2019 but did not even manage one this time -- where the saffron party saw huge losses.
Opposition leaders attribute their improved performance in reserved seats to a spirited campaign by Congress and its allies by pitting BJP's '400 paar' slogan as an attempt to rewrite the Constitution and do away with the quota regime.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and its campaigner-in-chief Rahul Gandhi amplified the Opposition narrative with the latter displaying a copy of the Constitution in every campaign speech. Opposition leaders highlighted statements by BJP leaders like Anant Kumar Hegde seeking two-third majority for the BJP to effect changes in Constitution during campaigns.
With the Opposition campaign gathering pace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to minimise the damage saying no one, even B R Ambedkar, could change the Constitution. Political analysts said Dalits saw the '400 paar' pitch as something aimed at altering the Constitution, which they consider their pride as they link it to their icon Ambedkar.
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