The Lingayat community has expressed displeasure over lack of representation by the political parties in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. The Akhil Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasangh Lingayat Mahasangh has threatened the political parties of voting for NOTA if candidates from the community are not given enough chance in the polls.
As all the political parties have started announcing their candidates for different constituencies for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, the Lingayat community has “warned” to boycott the political parties and vote for NOTA if the community does not get appropriate candidature. On Saturday, the Akhil Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasangh announced to oppose candidates of other communities in constituencies where Veerashaiva Lingayat Samaj has a decisive vote.
At a press conference held by the community, Vijay Jangam, the national working president of the Mahasangh, claimed that the community has a decisive vote in 36 constituencies across the state. He said that the Veerashaiva Lingayat community should be given the first preference in these constituencies and if the political parties fail to give chance to candidates from the community, all the sub-castes within the community will boycott other candidates and vote for NOTA.
Although the Bharatiya Janata Party gave chance to two candidates from the community, the Mahasangh claimed that it is an under-representation of the community considering that the candidates have been fielded from their traditional constituencies and in only a single division. It also alleged that the BJP had assured to accept a few demands made by the community before the elections but none of the demands have been accepted.
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“Veerashaiva Lingayat and Jangam Samaj have been a significant contributor to the political structure of the country even in the recent post-independence period. Lately, the community has been hit hard by the changing political situation. After the formation of Maharashtra state, except for the initial period, these communities seem to have been deliberately excluded from the political sphere of the state. And now almost all the political parties have used the fund to use this community only for voting,” said Jangam.
