BJP takes a hit in SC-ST reserved seats as Opposition’s ‘Save the Constitution’ pitch pays off

The issue of reservation and “saving the Constitution” which was one of the core campaign points of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha elections managed to leave a visible impact on the performance of the two national parties, the BJP and the Congress, in 131 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (84 seats) and Scheduled Tribes (47 seats).

Going by the results and the trends, the BJP faced a tough contest from the Opposition alliance in these constituencies.

The ruling BJP either won or was leading in 30 SC-reserved seats in 11 states till reports last came in, recording a decline in its performance on such seats in comparison to 2019 when the party had won 46 of these seats.

The Congress managed to either win or was leading on 19 SC-reserved seats across nine states while the counting of votes was in progress till Tuesday late evening, improving its performance in comparison to 2019 polls when the party had won only six seats.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his alliance partners from the INDIA bloc had aggressively raised the issue of their apprehension of a “threat to the Constitution” and the reservation during the campaign. BJP insiders said the campaign of the Opposition parties “caused damage to the BJP as the apprehension of losing the reservation prevailed in the minds of Dalits and tribals”.

Notably, the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh which had won none of the SC seats in 2019, was set to win seven such seats in the state where the party was in alliance with the Congress. Out of these seven seats, SP was set to wrest five seats from the BJP, one from each from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Apna Dal (SP).

The Trinamool Congress was set to win six SC seats in West Bengal. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam managed to