The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) on Tuesday released the third list of five candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. This comes a day after Prakash Ambedkar-led party had declared the second list of 11 candidates on Monday, April 1. So far, the party has declared a total of 11 candidates for the upcoming general elections.
VBA not to contest at Baramati seat
In a notable move, the VBA has decided not to contest the Baramati Parliamentary Constituency in the upcoming elections. Instead, they have opted to support the candidate from the Nationalist Congress Party's (Sharad Pawar faction), Supriya Sule. The VBA has also announced its candidates for other constituencies, including Vasant More for Pune, Avinash Bosikar for Nanded, Balasaheb B. Ugale for Parbhani, Afsar Khan for Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and Mangaldas Bagul for Shirur.
MVA still interested in seat-sharing talks with VBA
Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is still interested in holding seat-sharing talks with the VBA, which has already declared candidates for several Lok Sabha seats. Speaking to reporters, Raut reiterated his demand to scrap electronic voting machines (EVMs) and conduct polls on ballot papers, claiming that the BJP will bear the brunt if polling is not conducted on EVMs.
Prakash Ambedkar was in talks with the MVA, comprising the Congress, the Nationalist Congress (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the Shiv Sena (UBT), for the Lok Sabha polls but recently announced candidates for 20 out of 48 seats. The Sena (UBT) leader claimed that Ambedkar's party stopped talks with the MVA, which had given it a proposal for five seats, including Akola, Ramtek, Dhule and a seat in Mumbai.
VBA's performance in 2019 Lok Sabha polls
Notably, VBA candidates finished third in many of these constituencies in the 2019 general elections wherein Congress or NCP (undivided) nominees could finish second, indicating that votes were split in favour of winning candidates, mostly from BJP and Shiv Sena (undivided). Last week, the VBA released its first list of nine candidates, fielding Ambedkar from Akola, signalling the outfit is no longer pursuing an alliance with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
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