Mumbai. Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) did not win any seat in Maharashtra in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, but influenced the outcome of at least seven constituencies, an analysis of the results showed. If the VBA had joined the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), some of these seven constituencies could have gone in favour of the opposition alliance. These seats also include Mumbai North-West, where the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate lost the election by just 48 votes.
After failed talks for an alliance with the MVA, the VBA fielded or supported candidates in most of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, contested from the Akola seat but lost. The septuagenarian Dalit leader has represented Akola in the Lok Sabha twice in the past. This time, the VBA leader’s entry into the fray made the contest in Akola triangular. Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Anoop Dhotre and Congress candidate Abhay Kashinath Patil were the two other major rivals in this seat in the Vidarbha region. Dhotre won by securing 4,57,030 votes. His nearest rival Patil got 4,16,404 votes, while Ambedkar finished third with 2,76,747 votes, which influenced the final result.
EXCLUSIVE: ‘India is not a mandate in favour of alliance’, big statement by senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi
Aurangabad seat
In Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Shiv Sena candidate Sandipanrao Bhumare won by a margin of 1,34,650 votes. He got 4,76,130 votes, while his rival and sitting MP Imtiaz Jaleel of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) got 3,41,480 votes. In the year 2019, VBA had an alliance with AIMIM, due to which Jaleel won the Aurangabad seat by a narrow margin. However, this time VBA fielded its candidate Afsar Khan Yasin, who got 69,266 votes. However, this did not have much impact on the results of the current election. In Beed, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) candidate Bajrang Sonawane defeated his nearest rival BJP candidate Pankaja Munde by a margin of 6,553 votes. VBA candidate Ashok Hinge, who came fourth, got 50,867 votes.
These seats were also affected
Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Nagesh Patil Ashtikar won from Hingoli constituency defeating Baburao Kohlikar of Shiv Sena by a margin of 1,08,602 votes. Ashtikar got 4,92,535 votes, Kohlikar got 3,83,933 votes, while VBA candidate Dr. B.D. Chavan got 1,61,814 votes. Congress candidate Vasant Chavan from Nanded defeated his nearest rival BJP candidate Prataprao Chikhlikar by 59,442 votes. Vasant Chavan got 5,28,894 votes in this seat in Central Maharashtra, while Chikhlikar got 4,69,452 votes. VBA candidate Avinash Bhosikar, who came third, got 92,512 votes.
Tags: Lok Sabha Election 2024, Lok Sabha Elections
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 5, 2024, 23:52 IST