VBA releases first list of candidates for Maharashtra election

Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) on Tuesday released its first list of 22 candidates for the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

Notably, the list mentioned each candidate's caste or community.

The Aghadi on Tuesday declared candidates for 13 seats in Western Maharashtra, six in Vidarbha, two in Marathwada and one in North Maharashtra.

The party has announced that it will contest all the 288 seats in the state.

"The VBA will field representatives of the deprived and weak communities," Ambedkar, who is the grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar, said in a statement.

It is not yet clear whether the VBA and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) will renew their alliance for the Maharashtra polls.

The VBA, formed by Ambedkar, who headed the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, had contested all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in the general election this year. But Ambedkar and the AIMIM could not strike a seat-sharing deal for the state polls.