How Rahul Gandhi's 'Samvidhan Bachao' shook Modi's juggernaut

The Lok Sabha Poll results have stunned the nation, diverging sharply from the Exit polls predictions. The outcome may be attributed to the opposition's 'Samvidhan Bachao' or 'Save the Constitution' election campaign, which overshadowed the usual array of issues.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis blamed the opposition's "BJP will change the Constitution" propaganda for the loss of NDA candidates on several seats.

"The unfortunate outcome of the results is that the opposition attempted to win the seats through its propaganda that we would change the Constitution. But in elections, the people's mandate has to be accepted as it is. We will do deep introspection and will recover our loss in the next assembly election," Fadnavis tweeted on X.


Rahul Gandhi had cleverly argued in his election camapign that if the BJP gained 400+ seats, they would amend the Constitution to eliminate reservations.

In response, BJP launched a counter-offensive, accusing Congress and its allies of undermining the Constitution by proposing reservations for Muslims, despite faith-based quotas being unconstitutional.

PM Modi challenged Rahul Gandhi, who often dramatically displayed a copy of the Constitution at his rallies, to pledge in writing that Congress would never attempt to implement a Muslim quota again.

As this heated debate continued, the Constitution became a central issue. For the first time since the 1977 election, which became a referendum on Indira Gandhi’s suspension of democracy in the North, the Constitution was a significant topic in the election.

After the results were declared, Rahul Gandhi again brought the 'save the constitution' slogan in his winning speech.

The Congress leader said, "The people of India have saved the Constitution and democracy. The deprived and poor population of the country stood with India to protect their rights. Congratulations to all the alliance partners and the lion-like workers of the Congress party."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured a third term, but the BJP will need to rely on the support of other parties in his coalition - JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar and TDP's chief Chandrababu Naidu, falling 32 seats short of the 272 majority mark - a stunning blow for the PM, who had hoped for a landslide victory '400 paar'.

For the first time, since the Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own --- far fewer than the record 303 it won in the 2019 election.