5

Apr

Will Prakash Ambedkar play spoilsport in Maharashtra

image

Today’s Edition

New Delhi, 5 April 2024

Shaikh Saleem

Will Prakash Ambedkar of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) play spoilsport for the opposition alliance – INDIA – in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra? This is being speculated in political circles because Ambedkar, a two-time Lok Sabha MP, has not so far agreed to be part of the opposition alliance.

Political analysts say that if Ambedkar contests alone without entering into seat adjustments with the INDIA alliance, he may cut into the opposition votes thus benefitting the BJP.

The same thing he did in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Indian National Congress and Nationalist Congress Party made a lot of efforts to seek the support of Ambedkar against the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Ambedkar demanded 12 seats to field his party candidates from different groups.

Article at a Glance

Prakash Ambedkar, the leader of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), may play a crucial role in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. Despite being a two-time Lok Sabha MP, Ambedkar has not yet agreed to join the opposition alliance, INDIA. If he decides to contest alone, it could split the opposition votes, inadvertently benefiting the BJP.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Ambedkar's VBA contested 47 seats, causing the defeat of Congress-NCP candidates in nine constituencies. VBA candidates polled a total of 4,132,242 (7.64%) votes, with 37,43,200 votes (6.92%) secured by 47 candidates contesting on the VBA ticket. Although VBA did not win any seats, it emerged as a significant political force.

Despite expectations of an alliance with VBA in the 2019 state assembly elections, Ambedkar's rigid stance led to a failed alliance. AIMIM, which contested independently, won two seats, while VBA failed to secure a single seat.

Now, with the 2024 Lok Sabha polls approaching, Ambedkar's talks with Shiv Sena (UBT) and other opposition parties have once again failed. Ambedkar's demand for more seats than his influence can justify, may benefit the BJP. If VBA manages to secure 7% of the votes, as it did in 2019, it could help the BJP win more than 36 seats.

Prakash Ambedkar's strategy of not entering into an electoral alliance with INDIA indicates a dangerous game plan that could potentially help the BJP in Maharashtra.

However, Congress offered only four seats under an electoral alliance. But Ambedkar took a very rigid stand and no electoral alliance could occur with Congress.

Out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, Prakash Ambedkar fielded his party candidates from 47 seats, barring the Aurangabad seat which went to AIMIM under an electoral alliance of VBA with the Hyderabad-based party.

While AIMIM candidate Imtiaz Jaleel won the Aurangabad seat, the VBA of Prakash Ambedkar could not win even a single seat but the split of votes caused by VBA candidates resulted in the defeat of Congress-NCP candidates in nine seats.

So, Prakash Ambedkar played spoilsport by refusing to accept the Congress offers. VBA candidates polled 41.3 lakh votes in 47 seats they contested in 2019. In 17 constituencies of the state, VBA candidates polled more than 80,000 votes.

According to figures released by the Election Commission of India, VBA and AIMIM candidates polled a total of 4,132,242 (7.64%) votes. A total of 47 candidates, who contested on the VBA ticket, secured 37,43,200 votes, which was 6.92% of the total polled votes in Maharashtra.

While VBA VBA-supported AIMIM candidate won in Aurangabad, VBA could not win even one seat. VBA stood second in Akota and third in 41 Lok Sabha constituencies. But this caused the defeat of Congress-NCP candidates, enabling the BJP and its allies to win all these seats.

But there should not be any doubt that VBA, an alliance of Dalits, weaker sections and minorities, emerged as a political force in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

This development perhaps inflated the ego of Prakash Ambedkar.

While Prakash Ambedkar should have entered an electoral alliance with non-BJP parties as a matter of strategy in the October 2019 state assembly elections, he miserably failed in this regard. Muslims expected an alliance with VBA. Political analysts believed that 14 per cent of Muslims and 14 per cent of Dalits together with smaller caste groups could win 40 to 60 seats, and change the politics of Maharashtra. But all the dreams for an alliance were shattered due to the rigid stand of Prakash Ambedkar.

AIMIM contested independently, however, won two seats – Malegaon and Dhulia. VBA, to everybody’s surprise, could not win even a single seat.

Prakash Ambedkar’s talks with Shiv Sena (UBT) and other opposition parties have again failed to cobble any alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The reason is that Prakash Ambedkar is demanding more seats than its influence.

BJP will be the only beneficiary in such a situation. If VBA manages to get 7 per cent votes as it did in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it may help BJP to secure victory in more than 36 seats. Analysts say that even if VBA gets three per cent votes, the INDIA alliance will not be able to get more than 10 seats.

It would be more dangerous for VBA to give seats to Muslim candidates in constituencies with a sizeable Muslim population.

Prakash Ambedkar’s strategy of not entering into an electoral alliance with INDIA indicates a dangerous game plan to help BJP in Maharashtra. (Words 625)

---------------

(The author is the national president of, the Federation of Indian Trade Unions. He can be contacted at wpisaleem62@gmail.com)

 

  • Share:

About Us

We must explain to you how all seds this mistakens idea off denouncing pleasures and praising pain was born and I will give you a completed accounts..

Contact Us

Contact Info

  • 70, Gyan Khand- 4, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. Uttar Pradesh.
  • +91-9810533682
  • info@mediamap.co.in
  • Week Days: 09.00 to 18.00 Sunday: Closed