The Congress and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) have formed an alliance to contest 62 of the 227 seats in the upcoming Mumbai civic elections. However, the alliance faced an immediate challenge as the VBA revealed it lacked candidates for 20 of its allocated 62 seats. This development may necessitate a strategic revision for the Congress, which had previously decided to contest independently before forming this alliance. The VBA, led by Prakash Ambedkar, primarily draws support from neo-Buddhist voters.