The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), which reportedly contributed to the defeat of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) nominees in four Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, announced its first list of 11 candidates on Saturday, including a transgender candidate, for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls.
VBA president Prakash Ambedkar said Shamibha Patil, a transgender from the Leva Patil community, will contest from the Raver assembly seat in the Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra.
Elections to the 288-member state assembly are likely to be held in November.
Ambedkar, a grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, also announced two candidates from the VBA's alliance partners Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) and Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP).
"Staying true to our sacred ideology, we have given representation to the deprived, 'bahujan' groups with the aim of gaining true representation and political power, and breaking the hegemony of families of certain castes," Ambedkar said while announcing the list.
"In the coming days, more names will be announced. We are in touch with very prominent political parties and soon more parties will join our alliance," Ambedkar said.
He said that the party has named candidates from different social communities, which have been socially and politically excluded by the mainstream parties and their successive governments.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the VBA’s presence in the ring was blamed for the defeat of eight Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) nominees, including former chief ministers Ashok Chavan (Nanded) and Sushilkumar Shinde (Solapur). At the time, Ambedkar had tied up with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which won one Lok Sabha seat in the state.
