Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday blamed the Opposition's 'BJP will change the Constitution' propaganda for the loss of National Democratic Alliance candidates on several seats.
Virtually conceding the defeat, Fadnavis stated they will introspect and recover the loss in the upcoming assembly elections.
"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.
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, however, said the people have strongly supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi in elections.
Out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, the ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, and the Nationalist Congress Party of Ajit Pawar, has won six of the 10 seats for which results have been declared so far, while it was leading in 17 other constituencies.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi bagged four seats and was leading in 27 others.
The BJP has emerged victorious in Palghar, Satara, and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituencies so far and leading in 10 constituencies.
"We lost some seats in the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. We hoped for a better outcome in West Bengal. Had it happened, the BJP alone would have won 310 seats," Fadnavis added.
The number of seats the BJP has won is far more than the collective seats won by the INDI Alliance, he claimed.
He also congratulated the party workers for helping in the victory of the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh and BJP workers in Odisha.
"Narendra Modi will become the prime minister for a third term as the voters have supported him," Fadnavis said.
Notably, the BJP won 23 seats out of 25 it had contested in the 2019 general elections and its then ally Shiv Sena (undivided) secured victory in 18 constituencies.
