The National People's Party is a national-level

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in India, though its influence is mostly concentrated in the state of

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...

. The party was founded by

P. A. Sangma Purno Agitok Sangma (1 September 1947 – 4 March 2016) was an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998. He was the candidate for the 2012 Indian presidentia ...

after his expulsion from the

NCP NCP may refer to: Science and medicine * Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (a temporary name for COVID-19), an outbreak that was officially identified in late 2019. * HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein 7 (NCp7), a target of zinc finger inhibitors * Nucleosome ...

in July 2012. It was accorded national party status on 7 June 2019. It is the first political party from

Northeastern India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

to have attained this status.

History

In January 2013,

launched the party on the national level. He announced that his party would be in alliance with the National Democratic Alliance led by

Bharatiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. Sangma also reiterated that though the membership of the party is open to all, it shall be a

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

centric party. Sangma who has been a nine-time

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, had announced to form a new political party soon after his expulsion from the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...

in July 2012, when he refused to accept party decision to quit the 2012 Indian presidential election. NPP contested the assembly election of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

in December 2013, under the leadership of

Kirodi Lal Meena Kirodi Lal Meena (born 3 November 1951) is an Indian politician. He has been a member of the 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, 9th and 15th Lok Sabha member, and at present he is a member of Rajya Sabha. He has ...

, a former BJP member and MP (Independent from

Dausa Dausa is a city and administrative headquarters of Dausa district in the state of Rajasthan, India. It is 55 km from Jaipur, 240 km from Delhi and located on Jaipur-Agra National Highway (NH-21).Current population is around 1.25 lak ...

) at the time of election and won four seats. Currently it is a part of

North-East Democratic Alliance The North-East Democratic Alliance or NEDA is a political coalition that was formed on May 24, 2016, by Bharatiya Janata Party. The motive of the new political front was to protect the interest of the people of the region as well as uniting non-Con ...

consisting of political parties of the northeast which has supported the National Democratic Alliance. In 2015, in a rare move election commission has suspended NPP for its failure to provide party's expenditure during Lok Sabha Elections held in 2014. NPP became first party to get suspended by EC. In September 2015, the leaders of six parties— Samajwadi Party,

, Jan Adhikar Party, Samras Samaj Party, National People's Party and

Samajwadi Janata Party Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) (SJP(R)), also called as Janata Dal (Socialist) is an Indian political party founded by Chandra Shekhar, 8th Prime Minister of India in 1990–91, and led by him until his death on 8 July 2007. Chandra Shekhar ...

announced the formation of a third front known as the Socialist Secular Morcha. National People's Party is fighting on 3 seats as part of Socialist Secular Morcha in

2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election The Legislative Assembly election was held over five-phases in Bihar through October–November 2015 before the end of the tenure of the prior Legislative Assembly of Bihar on 29 November 2015. In April 2015, the Janata Parivar group (a group ...

. In May 2016, after the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

led National Democratic Alliance formed its first government in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, and formed a new alliance called the

(NEDA) with

Himanta Biswa Sarma Himanta Biswa Sarma (born 1 February 1969) is an Indian politician serving as the 15th and incumbent Chief Minister of Assam. A former member of the Indian National Congress political party. Sarma joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 23 Augus ...

as its convener. The Chief Ministers of the north eastern states of

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...

and

Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...

too belong to this alliance. Thus, the National People's Party joined the BJP-led NEDA. The NPP contested 9 candidates in the 2017 Manipur Legislative Assembly election and won 4 seats. The NPP won 19 seats in the 2018 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election. Although the ruling

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

emerged as the single largest party, the NEDA collectively held a majority.

Conrad Sangma Conrad Kongkal Sangma (born 27 January 1978) is an Indian politician who is the 12th and current Chief Minister of Meghalaya. He assumed presidency of the National People's Party in 2016 after the death of his father who was former Chief Min ...

thus became Chief Minister, becoming the first member of the party to lead an Indian state.

Election symbol

Its election symbol is a book. The significance for the same is that the party believes that only literacy and education can empower the weaker sections.

Elections

The party won a seat in 2014 Loksabha elections from Tura and Sangma became MP. After the death of P. A. Sangma, from this seat his son

won by-election held in May 2016. The party had proposed to contest election and expand its base in tribal constituencies of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

, north

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

and the

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

. In March 2018, the party won 19 out of 60 assembly seats in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election 2018 and formed government in the state in coalition with

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...

and other parties and party president

sworn in as Chief Minister of the state. In May 2018, the party won Williamnagar Assembly seat in a by-election making its tally to 20 out of 60 assembly seats in

Meghalaya Legislative Assembly The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Meghalaya. Constituted as a directly elected body in 1972, it has 60 members, filled through direct elections held e ...

Election Results

Rajasthan Legislative Assembly

Manipur Legislative Assembly

Nagaland Legislative Assembly

Meghalaya Legislative Assembly

Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly

Members of Parliament

Lok Sabha

Tura Lok Sabha,

Rajya Sabha

References

External links

*
Tura lok sabha constituency election 2019 date and schedule
{{North-East Democratic Alliance Political parties in Meghalaya Recognised state political parties in India Political parties established in 2013 2013 establishments in India