Coat pocket edition of the Constitution is a sellout after polls

The slim red coat pocket edition of the Indian Constitution that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi flaunted at his election rallies has seen a sudden surge in demand.

The Constitution of India, published in black-red cover by Lucknow-based Eastern Book Company (EBC), sold more than 5,000 copies during elections, and the edition is now out of print.

In 2023, almost the same number of copies had been sold in the entire year, says the publishing house. The EBC is the sole publisher of the coat pocket version of the Constitution in the country.

The flexi foam leather-bound coat pocket edition of the book, first launched in 2009, is nearly 20 cm in length, 10.8 cm wide, and 2.1 cm thick with machine stitching.

Since then, 16 editions have been printed.

"The idea for the coat pocket edition of the Indian Constitution came from senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan that we should publish a version which is easy to use and cite in court by lawyers. In 2009, around 700 to 800 copies were sold and over the years, on average the sale of the sleek copy was around 5,000-6,000, but when the edition was prominently figured during election rallies and press conferences by Congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, we witnessed a sudden surge in the number of queries and demand for the coat edition," said Sumeet Malik, the director of EBC.

The foreword of the book written by K.K. Venugopal, the former Attorney General of India, and senior advocate in the Supreme Court, states, "I believe that every Indian, whether he be a lawyer, judge or not, should have a copy of this little book, small in size but huge in its human dimensions. I believe that this elegant book should be in the pockets of every Indian, enabling him to derive inspiration from the greatness of the ideas contained in the Constitution of India, which we, the people of India, have given unto ourselves."

The coat pocket edition is printed on Bible paper over 624 pages. It contains the making of the Indian Constitution by Professor Ranbir Singh, former Vice-Chancellor of National Law University (NLU), Delhi.

Malik said, "We have intellectual property rights over this edition, its look and feel and it cannot be copied by anyone. Only EBC publishes this. Whenever senior judges from the Supreme Court travel abroad in an official capacity they carry the coat pocket edition as a gift for their counterpart. It is available in many libraries across the world as well."