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

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 win all three reserved seats in Tamil Nadu.

BJP allies Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) won three SC seats in Bihar and JD(U) won one seat there. The Telugu Desam Party was set to win three seats in Andhra Pradesh.

The BJP was set to win eight seats in Uttar Pradesh, four each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, two each in Odisha and Gujarat, and one each in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

In the 2019 elections, BJP had won a maximum of 46 SC seats, out of which a maximum of 14 were from UP. The party had won five seats each in West Bengal and Karnataka and four in Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress had at that time won only six such seats scattered in three states of Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. The Trinamool Congress had won five of those seats in West Bengal. DMK and YSRCP both had bagged four seats each.

Among the 47 ST seats, the BJP was leading on 26 seats, including six in Madhya Pradesh, four each in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat, and one in Rajasthan. On the said seats, the BJP recorded a decline in performance as the party had won 31 such seats in 2019.

The Congress which had won only four of these seats in 2019, was leading on 12 such seats this time till late Tuesday evening. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha was leading on three such seats in Jharkhand.