Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi president Prakash Ambedkar.
| Photograph Credit score: ANI
The choice of the Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election by itself is more likely to dent the prospects of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra, in line with political observers.
The ruling Mahayuti — comprising the BJP, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena — could have an edge in constituencies the place the VBA has a big vote share, stated Dr. Prakash Pawar, political analyst and professor at Shivaji College, Kolhapur. “Had the VBA been a part of the MVA, the Opposition bloc would have emerged as a formidable pressure as consolidation of votes would have posed a troublesome problem to the BJP-led NDA,” he stated.
Led by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the VBA’s vote base includes backward class communities, Scheduled Tribes, Dalits, and Muslims. Fashioned in 2018, the social gathering had contested its maiden common election in 2019. Although none of its 47 candidates emerged victorious, it garnered 6.99% of the votes polled.
Within the Meeting election the identical yr, it contested 236 of the 288 seats and cornered 5.50% of the votes. The social gathering contested each these polls in alliance with the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
‘Division of votes’
A VBA chief, on situation of anonymity, admitted that the social gathering’s determination to contest the election independently will “definitely divide the votes solid in favour of the Opposition”.
He added that the social gathering’s seat-sharing talks with the MVA allies had failed “as a result of we have been supplied these seats the place the MVA companions didn’t have any presence on the bottom, which meant we have been dropping in these seats”.
“We don’t need to be handled simply as a vote financial institution to let the larger events win elections and save their respective enterprise pursuits. By going solo, we’re effective with regardless of the election end result is,” stated one other VBA chief.
Alternatively, the MVA anticipates a lesser vote share for the VBA within the election owing to the shortage of an alliance with its former associate, the AIMIM. “They won’t garner greater than 3% of the votes in Maharashtra. In 2019, the VBA-AIMIM alliance had resulted in eight seats going within the BJP’s favour,” stated a Congress chief.
But, the chief conceded that “their solo presence will nonetheless be a dent ultimately”. “In any case, each vote and each share of vote share issues within the election,” he stated.
