BVA yet to decide whom to support

Mumbai: The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), a party that holds the key to elections in Vasai-Virar, will decide its stand over the upcoming Lok Sabha bypoll in Palghar on Sunday. The party’s leader MLA Hitendra Thakur confirmed to The Asian Age that his party has not committed to either the Bharatiya Janata Party  (BJP) or Opposition parties. Mr Thakur’s party, which has three MLAs, has provided its support to the BJP, which leads the ruling alliance in the state.

The Election Commission had recently announced the Palghar Lok Sabha byelection. Voting will take place on May 28 and counting on May 31. This seat was with the BJP in 2014. BJP’s Chintaman Vanaga had won the seat, with a 5,33,201-vote tally.  BVA’s Baliram Jadhav had came second with 2,93,681 votes. The difference was 2,39, 681 votes, but Vanaga’s vote share was attributed to the so-called Modi wave of 2014. In 2009, Mr Jadhav won the election with 2,23,234 votes while Vanaga came second, bagging 2,10,875 votes. Congress had supported BVA candidate in 2014’s Lok Sabha election and in 2009 its candidate had pulled 1,60,570 votes.

In such a situation, BVA will have crucial role to play in coming bypoll, “Our party workers are meeting in Virar on the coming Sunday. We will take decision there,” said Mr Thakur. “Though we have supported the BJP in the state government, that doesn’t mean we will support them in the coming election also. They (BJP and Shiv Sena) had fielded candidates against us in 2009 and 2014,” he added.