New Delhi: The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) had just Rs 75 left in cash as its closing balance at the end of the financial year 2022-23.
The figure appears in the annual auditor's report submitted by the party to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for 2022-23, offering a snapshot of a little-known outfit that has now unexpectedly entered the national political conversation after a group of 20 dissident Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MPs announced their merger with the party on Sunday.
The crisis in the TMC deepened on Sunday as the dissident MPs announced their merger with the little-known NCPI and met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking a separate seating arrangement in the House.
Speaking to reporters after their meeting with Birla, rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said 20 TMC MPs had signed a representation submitted to the Speaker. "Two-thirds of TMC MPs have given a letter to the speaker for a separate seating arrangement. We will merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party and support the NDA," she said.
The NCPI registered itself as a political party in January 2023, with a building in Sankarail in West Bengal's Howrah district as its address in the ECI records.
During the financial year 2022-23, the NCPI declared receiving Rs 1,13,075 in "donations from well-wishers". Its expenditure was almost the same, Rs 1.13 lakh, including Rs 49,400 spent for the 2023 Tripura assembly polls.
Among the nine contributors were party president Shewly Kundu and vice president Uttiya Kundu, husband and wife by relation, who contributed Rs 15,000 and Rs 18,000 respectively.
The NCPI's financial contribution and the auditor's reports of 2023-24 and 2024-25 are not available in the ECI records.
In the Tripura polls, the party fielded four candidates and appealed to voters through its campaign slogan: "Reject political turncoats". Out of these four, two candidates contested on the party's symbol, the third contested as an Independent while the nomination of the fourth candidate was rejected.
One of its candidates, Barjeda Tripura, polled 536 votes, 36 more than NOTA, while another secured 286 votes. The candidate who contested as an Independent got 376 votes. Barjeda told PTI on Sunday that he works as a daily wage labourer and had no knowledge of the latest political developments involving the party.
If the merger is approved by Speaker Om Birla, the NCPI, which currently has no local body councillors let alone MLAs or MPs, will become the sixth largest party in the Lok Sabha and the second largest party in the ruling BJP-led NDA, well ahead of the TDP and the JDU.
Behind the NCPI is also an unusual leadership profile.
Shewly Kundu, the founder president, describes herself as an advocate at the Calcutta High Court, with qualifications including "MSc in Mathematics, Ex MBA, LLM" and multiple certifications ranging from financial markets to land surveying. On Monday, she told reporters that she had stepped down from the post of president.
Uttiya Kundu, meanwhile, identified himself as a "Bengali newspaper editor, mathematics teacher, motivational speaker, ISO auditor, health consultant and yoga volunteer". His stated qualifications include an "MSc in Mathematics" along with a range of diplomas spanning yoga training, technical courses and land surveying.
On May 13, days after the BJP won the West Bengal assembly polls, Uttiya posted a picture on his Facebook page with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari with the caption "with your determination, may every speck of dust in Bengal be revitalised".
Speaking to PTI Videos on Monday, Shantanu Dey, who describes himself as the party's "national organisation general secretary", said he was caught unawares by the sudden announcement of the TMC MPs but welcomed the possibility of expansion.
"It is good if people join us, as the party will grow," Dey said.
The NCPI leader said he had spoken to "all party leaders" and the view within the organisation was that any decision should be collective.
"So far, I was the decision maker. Now, a leadership will come. But we want a decision to be taken after taking the members into confidence," he said, adding that his term ends in 2027 according to the party constitution.
Shewly, however, claimed that Dey does not hold any post in the party and was only associated with NCPI during the Tripura elections.
Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) are parties that are registered with the Election Commission but have not yet met the criteria required to be recognised as state or national parties.
