As expected, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has chosen to stay away from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Instead, it has decided to seek the Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil’s support to form a third front for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. Party’s president Prakash Ambedkar also announced some candidates on Wednesday, as the deadline he had given to the MVA for patching up, ended.

Ambedkar will himself be the VBA candidate from Akola in western Vidarbha, where he had won twice in succession in the past and later suffered many successive losses, including the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. VBA’s candidates have been chosen in some constituencies considering their respective caste influence in the constituencies but did not have representation in the parliament’s lower house for many years. For example, a Banjara has been fielded in Yavatmal-Vashim where Banjara caste members decide the election outcome. In Wardha, VBA’s candidate is from the Kunbi caste which has a large presence there. Ambedkar mentioned their respective caste while naming his candidates.