How NCPI rose from 840 votes and ₹75 to 20 Lok Sabha members

The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) emerged from obscurity after 20 Trinamool Congress MPs announced their merger with it on June 15, 2026. The party had received only 840 votes in the 2023 Tripura assembly elections, with all three candidates losing their deposits. Its bank balance stood at just ₹75 in 2022-23.

NCPI was founded in 2020 as a platform focused on tribal welfare, nationalism and governance reforms. It was registered as an unrecognized political party in January 2023, with its headquarters in Sankarail area of Howrah district, West Bengal. The office also housed an NGO, a Bengali weekly newspaper and a women workers' union, with locals unaware of its political status.

The sudden defection of 20 TMC MPs surprised even NCPI's founding members. The merger transformed the little-known outfit into one of parliament's largest regional political forces.