Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi
Abbreviation	VBA
President	Prakash Ambedkar
Founder	Babasaheb Ambedkar
Founded	1 January 2018 (7 years ago) (2018-01-01)
Merger of	Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (2019)
Headquarters	First Floor, Thackersey House, Ballard Estate, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001
Newspaper	Prabuddha Bharat
Ideology	Ambedkarism Social equality Constitutionalism Secularism Socialism Progressivism
Colours	Blue
ECI Status	Registered Party
Alliance	AIMIM+ (2019)
Seats in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly	0 / 288
Seats in Akola Zilla Parishad	6 / 14
Election symbol
Elections

The Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) is a political party in India. Its name means "Deprived Majority Front." Prakash Ambedkar started the party on March 20, 2018.

The VBA mainly works in the state of Maharashtra. It follows ideas from Jyotirao Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar. These ideas focus on making society fair for everyone.

How the VBA Started

The name "Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi" was first used on January 1, 2018. This happened at a meeting in Pandharpur, Maharashtra. Prakash Ambedkar led this meeting. About 100 smaller political groups and social organizations joined in.

Forming the Party

In June 2018, a decision was made to create the VBA as a political party. This happened at a meeting with Prakash Ambedkar and other leaders. Ambedkar explained that the VBA would include many groups. He said he would lead it, but each group would keep its own identity.

On May 20, 2018, Ambedkar officially formed the VBA. The Election Commission of India recognized it as a registered political party. Another party, Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, later joined the VBA in 2019.

Early Meetings and Alliances

The first big meeting of the VBA was held in Solapur on September 28, 2018. Here, they agreed to work with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). This partnership was formed to compete in upcoming elections. Prakash Ambedkar held many public meetings across Maharashtra. These meetings aimed to bring together farmers, workers, and young people.

Focus on Rights

On February 23, 2019, a conference was held in Mumbai. It focused on the rights of Other Backward Classes (OBC). Leaders like Prakash Ambedkar and Asaduddin Owaisi (from AIMIM) spoke there. They discussed how to help these communities. They also talked about giving property rights to people in certain villages.

The VBA tried to work with the Indian National Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. They wanted to form a group against the Bhartiya Janata Party. The VBA asked for 12 seats in elections for different communities. But the Congress party only offered four seats. Because of this, the VBA decided to run for all 48 seats in Maharashtra on its own.

In July 2019, a leader named Laxman Mane left the VBA. He then started his own new party.

Elections in Maharashtra

The VBA had an alliance with AIMIM until September 6, 2019. This partnership ended because they disagreed on how many seats each party would get in the 2019 State Elections. AIMIM wanted to run for 100 seats. But Prakash Ambedkar offered them only eight. This disagreement led to the end of their alliance.

2019 State Election Results

For the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, the Election Commission of India gave the "Gas cylinder" as the election symbol to VBA candidates. The VBA ran in 234 out of 288 seats. However, they did not win any seats. They also supported 23 other candidates from different parties.

The VBA was the party that ran in the second-highest number of seats. They came after the Bahujan Samaj Party. In the 2019 Maharashtra elections, VBA candidates received over 24 lakh votes. This was about 4.6% of all votes. The VBA came in second place in 10 different election areas.

Choosing Candidates

In March 2019, the VBA announced its first list of 37 candidates. They mentioned the backgrounds of these candidates. The VBA chose people from many different communities. These included Dhangar, Kunbi, Bhil, Buddhist, Koli, and Muslim communities.

Prakash Ambedkar said they mentioned the candidates' backgrounds to show that these groups were often left out of politics by other parties. For the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, AIMIM ran in one seat. The VBA ran in the remaining 47 seats in Maharashtra. The Election Commission of India gave the "Teacup" as the election symbol to most VBA candidates.

Prakash Ambedkar had been a Member of Parliament (MP) twice before. He represented the Akola Loksabha constituency. But he lost his seat in the 2019 elections.

Lok Sabha Election Results

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, only the AIMIM candidate, Imtiyaz Jaleel, won a seat. No candidate from the VBA won. In 17 election areas, VBA candidates received more than 80,000 votes.

Overall, the VBA and AIMIM candidates together received over 4.1 million votes in Maharashtra. This was about 7.64% of all votes. The VBA candidates alone received about 3.7 million votes. This was 6.92% of the total votes in Maharashtra. The VBA came in second place in the Akola constituency. They were in third place in 41 other constituencies.

Election Results Over Time

This table shows how the VBA has performed in national elections.

Lok Sabha Elections

This table shows how the VBA has performed in state elections in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Legislature Assembly Elections

Maharashtra Legislature Assembly

What the VBA Believes In

On April 6, 2019, the VBA announced its main beliefs. They said that the Preamble of the Constitution of India is their guide. The Preamble is like the introduction to India's rulebook.

The VBA focuses on 27 different issues. Some of their ideas include:

• Making education free from kindergarten to college.
• Making sure groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh follow the rules of the Indian Constitution.
• Giving Lingayatism the status of an independent religion.
• Creating various plans to help farmers.

See also

• Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh
• Politics of India
• List of political parties in India
• Politics of Maharashtra