Nationalist Congress Party

The Nationalist Congress Party (abbr. NCP) is one of the national parties in India.^[10][11] The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism.^[1] It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra^[12] and is also a significant party in other states.

Nationalist Congress Party
Abbreviation	NCP
President	Sharad Pawar
General Secretary	Sunil Tatkare Praful Patel
Spokesperson	Nawab Malik
Parliamentary Chairperson	Sharad Pawar
Lok Sabha leader	Supriya Sule
Rajya Sabha leader	Sharad Pawar
Founder	Sharad Pawar P. A. Sangma Tariq Anwar
Founded	10 June 1999 (23 years ago) (1999-06-10)
Split from	Indian National Congress
Headquarters	10, Bishmabhar Marg, New Delhi, India-110001
Student wing	Nationalist Student Congress
Youth wing	Nationalist Youth Congress Nationalist Yuvati Congress
Women's wing	Nationalist Women's Congress
Ideology	Gandhism^[1] Liberalism^[2] Secularism^[2] Socialism^[3] Marathi nationalism^[4]^[5]
Political position	Centre^[6]
Colours	Pacific Blue
ECI Status	National Party^[7]
Alliance	United Progressive Alliance (National level) Left Democratic Front (Kerala) Maha Vikas Aghadi (Maharashtra) SP+ (Uttar Pradesh) Mahagathbandhan (Jharkhand) (2019–present)
Seats in Lok Sabha	4 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha	4 / 245 ^[8]
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies	Indian states 52 / 288 (Maharashtra)^[9] 2 / 140 (Kerala) 1 / 81 (Jharkhand) 1 / 60 (Meghalaya)
Seats in Maharashtra Legislative Council	11 / 78
Number of states and union territories in government	2 / 31
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
ncp.org.in
Politics of India Political parties Elections

Party formation and performance

The NCP was formed on 10 June 1999, by Sharad Pawar, P. A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar after they were expelled from the Indian National Congress on 20 May 1999, for disputing the right of Italian-born Sonia Gandhi to lead the party.^[13][14][15] When the NCP formed, the Indian Congress (Socialist) – Sarat Chandra Sinha party merged into the new party.^[16]

Despite the NCP being founded on opposition to the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the party joined the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to form the government of Maharashtra in October 1999. In 2004, the party joined the UPA to form the national government led by Manmohan Singh. The NCP's leader, Sharad Pawar served as the Minister of Agriculture for both five-year terms of the Singh-led government. The party remained part of the Congress-led Maharashtra state government until 2014.^[17] On 20 June 2012, P. A. Sangma left the NCP to contest the presidential election, which he lost.^[18] In the April and May 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the UPA lost to the rival National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Narendra Modi and the NCP was out of government for the first time in ten years. The NCP broke its alliance with the Congress Party just before the October 2014 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections to contest them on its own.^[19] In the assembly election the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the largest party and formed a minority government, initially with support from the NCP.

In April 2019, voting took place for the 48 Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra. The Congress and NCP had a seat-sharing arrangement.^[20] Similarly, despite their differences, the BJP and Shiv Sena once again contested the elections together under the NDA banner.^[21][22] The election was another landslide victory for the NDA, with the BJP and Shiv Sena winning 23 and 18 seats, respectively, out of the total of the state's 48 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress Party won only one seat in the state whereas the NCP won five seats from its stronghold of western Maharashtra.^[23]

During the October 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, the BJP–Shiv-Sena and NCP–Congress alliances remained intact for seat sharing. The BJP and Shiv Sena together gained the majority of seats in the assembly but could not form a government due to disagreements between the two parties. The BJP, with 105 seats, was far short of the 145 seats required to form a majority and declined to form a minority government. As a result, Shiv Sena started talks with the NCP and Congress to form a government. However, in a controversial move, on 23 November 2019, the BJP formed a government with support from the NCP, with Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister. This government collapsed three days later with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Pawar resigning their respective positions. Finally, the NCP came back into power at the state level as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition formed with Shiv Sena and the Congress. On 28 November 2019, the governor of Maharashtra swore in Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Thackeray's cabinet included ministers from the NCP in key portfolios.^[24][25]

However this alliance lost power in June 2022 after a rebel faction led by Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde gathered the support of a majority of Sena MLAs and reestablished the previous Sena-BJP coalition.^[26] Subsequently, on 20 July, NCP President Sharad Pawar dissolved almost all units of the party.^[27]

Ideology

The Mumbai President of the NCP Nawab Malik said that the party advocates for Indian reunification, the proposal that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh become one country. Malik compared this to German reunification: "If the Berlin wall can be demolished then why not India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh come together?"^[28]

Party symbol

The election symbol of NCP is an analogue alarm clock.^[29][30] The clock is drawn in blue and has two legs and an alarm button. It is situated on a tri-coloured Indian flag.^[31]

Party leadership

The party's primary base is the state of Maharashtra and its leadership reflects that. Since the 1980s, Indian politics has become more dynastic, possibly due to the absence of a party organization, independent civil society associations that mobilize support for the party, and centralized financing of elections.^[32] This phenomenon is seen from the national level down to the district level. In that regard, the NCP is considered the party with the highest level of dynasticism in Indian politics.^[33] The party founder, Sharad Pawar has many members of his family such as his daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar holding prominent positions in the party.

SI No.	Name	Designation
1	Sharad Pawar	1.) Founder and National President. 2.) Former Union Minister of Defence, Government of India. 3.) Former Union Minister of Agriculture, Government of India. 4.) Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra. 5.) Former Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha
2	Jayant Patil	1.) Maharashtra State President. 2.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 3.) Former cabinet minister of the government of Maharashtra for Home, Finance and Rural Development. 4.) Former Cabinet Minister of Maharashtra for Water resources and command area development. 5.) Leader of NCP Legislative Party in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
3	Ajit Pawar	1.) Former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Minister of Finance and Planning. 2.) Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 3.) Former Water resources minister of Government of Maharashtra. 4.) Former Leader of house in Maharashtra Legislative Council.
4	Rajesh Tope	1.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 2.) Former Higher Education Minister. 3.) Health Minister Of Maharashtra Government.
5	Dhananjay Munde	1.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 2.) Former Opposition Leader in Maharashtra Legislative Council. 3.) Cabinet Minister Of Maharashtra Government.
6	Supriya Sule	Member of the Lok Sabha from Baramati.
7	Jitendra Awhad	1.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 2.) Cabinet Minister of Maharashtra.
7.	Chhagan Bhujbal	1.) Former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. 2.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 3.) Cabinet Minister of Maharashtra Government.
8	Sunil Tatkare	Member of the Lok Sabha from Raigad.
9	Amol Kolhe	Member of the Lok Sabha from Shirur.
10	Dattatray Vithoba Bharne	1.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 2.) Guardian minister of Solapur District 3.) Ministers of State of Maharashtra Government.
11	Mohammed Faizal P. P.	Member of the Lok Sabha from Lakshadweep.
12	Praful Patel	1.) Member of the Parliament, Rajya Sabha. 2.) Former Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India.
13	Nawab Malik	1.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 2.) National Spokesperson. 3.) Cabinet Minister of Maharashtra.
14	R.R. Patil	Former Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister of Maharashtra.
15	Dilip Walse-Patil	1.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 2.) Cabinet Minister of Maharashtra.
16	Fouzia Khan	1.) National President of NCP's women's wing. 2.) Former Minister, Government of Maharashtra. 3.) Member of the Parliament, Rajya Sabha
17	Thomas Chandy	Former Transport Minister Government of Kerala.
18	D. P. Tripathi	Former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.
19	Reshma Patel	General Secretary of Gujarat state Nationalist Congress Party.
20	Dheeraj Sharma	National President of the National Student and Congress.
21	Anil Deshmukh	1.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 2.) Former Minister for Home Affairs Government of Maharashtra.
22	Babajani Durani	Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
23	Hasan Mushrif	1.) Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. 2.) Minister of Rural Development Government of Maharashtra.
24	Shriniwas Patil	1.) Former Governor of Sikkim. 2.) Member of the Lok Sabha from Satara.
25	P. C. Chacko	1.) Former Member of the Lok Sabha from Thrissur (Lok Sabha constituency).
26	Hari R	1.) Karnataka State President (Nationalist Congress Party).
27	Brij Mohan Shrivastav	1.) National Spokesperson, National Secretary (Nationalist Congress Party).

Electoral performance

General elections

Year	Lok Sabha	Seats contested	Seats won	+/-	Votes polled	% of votes	State (seats)
1999	13th Lok Sabha	32	8 / 543 (1%)	8	82,60,311	2.27%	Maharashtra (6) Manipur (1) Meghalaya (1)
2004	14th Lok Sabha	32	9 / 543 (2%)	1	70,23,175	1.80%	Maharashtra (9)
2009	15th Lok Sabha	68	9 / 543 (2%)		85,21,502	1.19%	Maharashtra (8) Meghalaya (1)
2014	16th Lok Sabha	36	6 / 543 (1%)	3	86,35,558	1.56%	Maharashtra (4) Bihar (1) Lakshadweep(1)
2019	17th Lok Sabha	35	5 / 543 (0.9%)	1	84,83,632	1.39%	Maharashtra (4) Lakshadweep(1)

State Legislative Assembly elections

Year	Vidhan Sabha term	Seats contested	Votes polled	+/-	Seats won	% of votes
Goa Legislative Assembly
2017		10	20,916	1	1 / 40 (3%)	2.28%
2022		13	10,846	0	0 / 40 (0%)	1.1%
Gujarat Legislative Assembly
2017		182	184,815	1	1 / 182 (0.5%)	0.62%
2022		2	76,949	0	0 / 182 (0%)	0.36%
Jharkhand Legislative Assembly
2019		7	63,320	1	1 / 81 (1%)	0.42%
Kerala Legislative Assembly
2016		4	237,408		2 / 140 (1%)	1.17%
2021		3	206,130		2 / 140 (1%)	0.99%
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
1999	10th Vidhan Sabha	223	74,25,427	58	58 / 288 (20%)	22.60%
2004	11th Vidhan Sabha	124	78,41,962	13	71 / 288 (25%)	18.75%
2009	12th Vidhan Sabha	113	74,20,212	9	62 / 288 (22%)	16.37%
2014	13th Vidhan Sabha	278	91,22,285	21	41 / 288 (14%)	17.24%
2019	14th Vidhan Sabha	125	92,16,919	13	54 / 288 (19%)	16.71%
Meghalaya Legislative Assembly
2018		6	29,287	1	1 / 60 (2%)	1.83%

List of Rajya Sabha members

No.	Name	Date of Appointment	Date of Retirement
1	Sharad Pawar	03-Apr-2020	02-Apr-2026
2	Fouzia Khan	03-Apr-2020	02-Apr-2026
3	Vandana Chavan	03-Apr-2018	02-Apr-2024
4	Praful Patel	05-Jul-2022	04-Jul-2028

State Presidents

• P. C. Chacko - Kerala
• Hari R - Karnataka

See also

• Politics of India
• List of political parties in India
• Maharashtra Rashtravadi Congress
• Politics of Maharashtra

References

1. "Pawar praises Uddhav; says NCP committed to Gandhi-Nehru ideology". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 10 September 2021.
2. Jha, Giridhar (25 November 2019). "Maharashtra Govt Formation: BJP's Return Into Ring Makes Scene Murkier". Outlook. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
3. Sujata Anandan (21 August 2017). "NCP's Sharad Pawar is riding two horses. A fall is inevitable". Scroll.in.
4. Rajeshwari Deshpande. (2006). Politics of Frustrations, Anxieties and Outrage. Economic and Political Weekly, 41(14), 1304–1307. JSTOR 4418041
5. PALSHIKAR, SUHAS. “In the Midst of Sub-Democratic Politics.” Economic and Political Weekly 45, no. 7 (2010): 12–16. JSTOR 25664106.
6. "Maharashtra: The political crisis brewing in India's richest state". BBC News. 23 June 2022. |quote = "...the centrist NCP and the Congress, along with independent lawmakers."|
7. "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
8. "Rajya Sabha". 164.100.47.5.
9. "Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2014: Maharashtra State Election Dates, Results, News, Governors and Cabinet Ministers 2014". dna.
10. "Recognized Political Parties:ECI".
11. "NPP Becomes First Political Outfit from the Northeast to get Status of National Party". 7 June 2019.
12. Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
13. Senior Congress leaders quit in Jharkhand
14. CWC expels threesome for six years
15. . The Times of India. 2 June 2009. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012.
16. "Spotlight: Merger with NCP". Tribune India. 11 June 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
17. Suhas Palshikar; Prerna Singh; Atul Kohli (4 January 2013). Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics. Routledge. pp. 92, 97. ISBN 978-1-135-12275-1.
18. "I have quit NCP, will contest presidential polls: PA Sangma". The Times of India. 29 June 2012.
19. "Congress-NCP announce seat-sharing for Maharashtra polls". 16 September 2019.
20. "Raj Thackeray, Dhananjay Munde in demand to campaign for Cong". April 11. PTI. 2019.
21. "Opinion Poll: BJP-Shiv Sena may lose 8 seats in Maharashtra, Congress-NCP to improve figures". No. March 23. New Nation. 2019.
22. "NCP will welcome BJP's decision to merge India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, says Maharashtra minister". Scroll.in. 23 November 2020.
23. . Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
24. "Political drama has gripped the home state of Bollywood". No. 30 November 2019. The Economist. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
25. "Maharashtra: With 169 votes, Uddhav-led govt sails through Assembly floor test, BJP stages walkout". Indian Express. No. 30 November 2019. Indian Express newspapers. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
26. "36 districts, 31 departments & 2-man cabinet: No expansion of Shinde govt for 3 weeks & counting". 22 July 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
27. "Sharad Pawar Dissolves All Units Of Party, Days After Shiv Sena Coup".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
28. "NCP will welcome BJP's decision to merge India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, says Maharashtra minister". Scroll.in. 23 November 2020.
29. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
30. "Symbols" (PDF). eci.nic.in. 2009.
31. "Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – Party History, Symbol, Founders, Election Results and News". www.elections.in.
32. Chhibber⇑, Pradeep (March 2013). "Dynastic parties Organization, finance and impact". Party Politics. 19 (2): 277–295. doi:10.1177/1354068811406995. S2CID 144781444.
33. Kanchan Chandra (28 April 2016). Democratic Dynasties: State, Party, and Family in Contemporary Indian Politics. Cambridge University Press. p. 131,136. ISBN 978-1-316-59212-0.

External links

• Official website
• Original Hosted Website Of NCP from 2007 AD (originally https://www.nationalistcongressparty.com)