Agartala, June 15: A little-known political outfit that contested four seats in the 2023 Tripura Assembly elections with the slogan “reject political turncoats to save your rights” has unexpectedly emerged in the national spotlight after a rebel faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), comprising 20 Lok Sabha members, announced its merger with the party.
The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), which had contested from Chawamanu, Ambassa, Karamchara and Kailashahar in the 2023 Assembly polls, had secured only a limited number of votes, with some of its candidates finishing behind the NOTA tally. The party, recognised as a Registered Unrecognised Political Party, had campaigned with the message “To save your rights, reject political turncoats. Support social workers, not political personalities,” and contested under the symbol of a pen nib.
One of its candidates, Barjeda Tripura, who contested from Chawamanu and received 536 votes, expressed surprise when informed about the latest development. Speaking to PTI, the 62-year-old daily wage labourer said he had no prior knowledge of the merger announcement and questioned how such a development had taken place three years after the election.
Barjeda recalled that a person identified as Krishna Debbarma had approached him to contest the 2023 polls. He added that he had earlier been associated with the Congress. According to his election affidavit, Barjeda had studied up to Class VIII, declared assets worth Rs 4 lakh and identified himself as a social worker.
In the Chawamanu constituency, BJP candidate Sambhu Lal Chakma had defeated TIPRA Motha’s Hangsa Kumar Tripura by 2,899 votes. Barjeda finished fifth, marginally ahead of the NOTA count of 500 votes. The other three NCPI candidates contested from Karamchara, Ambassa and Kailashahar. While TIPRA Motha won Karamchara and Ambassa, the Congress emerged victorious in Kailashahar.
The unexpected prominence of the NCPI follows a deepening split within the Trinamool Congress. On Sunday, dissident MPs announced their decision to merge with the NCPI and met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking separate seating arrangements in Parliament.
Following the meeting, rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that two-thirds of the TMC’s Lok Sabha members had submitted a letter to the Speaker seeking recognition as a separate group. She stated that the MPs would merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and extend support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Senior TMC leader and Lok Sabha member Sudip Bandyopadhyay confirmed that the dissident camp had already merged with the NCPI, describing it as a regional party.
Registered unrecognised political parties are organisations registered with the Election Commission of India but which have not yet fulfilled the requirements necessary to obtain recognition as either state or national parties.
