Mumbai: After deciding not to join the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has announced its candidates. Prakash Ambedkar's son Sujat is likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Mumbai South-Central Lok Sabha seat. Had he joined the Vanchit Maha Vikas Aghadi, Prakash Ambedkar himself would have been interested in contesting from the seat. However, since he will contest from Akola, his son is likely to contest from the seat.
The Bahujan community constitutes around 16 percent of the total voters in the South-Central Lok Sabha constituency. Muslims constitute 23 percent of the electorate. The voters of both these communities are mainly from Dharavi, Wadala, and Sion-Koliwada. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress candidate Eknath Gaikwad had polled 57,923 votes from Dharavi. From there, Vanchit's Sanjay Bhosale got 4,730 votes. Gaikwad got 51,5050 votes from Sion-Koliwada, and 3,918 votes from Wadala whereas Vanchit won 8,221 votes and 8,791 votes respectively In these six assembly constituencies, the Congress got a total of 34.8 percent votes while the Vanchit got 8.1 percent votes. Rahul Shewale got a total of 54.2 percent votes. Shewale got the maximum number of votes from Mahim, Chembur, Anushakti Nagar, and Sion-Koliwada.
Bahujan, Muslim votes to turn aroundDharavi is considered to be the stronghold of Eknath Gaikwad. However, he was defeated by Rahul Shewale in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. His daughter Varsha Gaikwad retained the Dharavi assembly seat after him. Last time, Gaikwad got votes from Bahujan and Muslim communities due to his dominance. However, if Sujat Ambedkar is to contest this time, the votes of the Bahujan and Muslim communities are likely to go to him.
"We are planning to contest from the South Central Lok Sabha constituency. Sujat's name is being discussed. But the name of the candidate has not been finalized."- Siddhartha Mokle, Chief Spokesperson, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi.