Pune: The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), which previously impacted the prospects of Congress and NCP in the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, is posing a renewed challenge to several parties in the upcoming civic polls. After alliance talks with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) fell through, the VBA fielded candidates for 58 seats across the municipal areas. Political observers suggest that while the VBA may have limited chances of outright victory, it possesses the potential to “spoil” the chances for secular candidates. This impact is expected to be most visible in wards with a high density of VBA sympathizers, where secular parties risk losing by narrow margins due to a split in vote share. “The VBA was hoping for a respectable number of seats. But some local leaders in the Congress party did not cooperate. They offered very few seats, and that too in locations where we don’t have much presence. It would have caused losses to us,” said Arvind Tayade, city unit chief of VBA. He said that the Congress party will have direct competition with them. The vote base of both parties is the same, so it is going to negatively impact the chances of the secular candidates. Their probability of victory will be reduced. As per VBA functionaries, they demanded 30 seats, including 15 of VBA’s choice and 15 which Congress would want to give. However, they were offered only eight seats. So, the VBA is going solo on 58 seats. Apart from these official candidates, it also extended support to some independent candidates. Mohan Joshi, a senior Congress functionary, said, “Our party is already in alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT). We were also approached by the NCP for a coalition. We tried to work things out with the VBA, but things did not work out. Their presence will not hamper us much, as we have our dedicated cadre and voter base.” As per the Congress leadership, they are contesting 98 out of 165 seats.
