Ajit Pawar's NCP wins 3 seats in Arunachal polls, could reclaim national party status

NCP (AP) wins 3 seats in Arunachal Pradesh assembly elections, first victory since party split in July 2023, aiming to regain national party status

MUMBAI: The Ajit Pawar-led NCP on Sunday got a shot in the arm after it won three of the 14 seats it contested in the Arunachal Pradesh assembly elections. Toko Tataung, Likha Soni and Nikh Kamin won the polls from Yachuli, Lekang and Bordumsa-Diyun seats respectively. This is the party’s first electoral success after the split in the NCP in July 2023.

Ajit PAwar, NCP, party president. (HT FILE)

This is the second time the NCP (AP), which has been officially recognised as the real NCP by the Election Commission, has succeeded in winning assembly polls in Arunachal Pradesh. In 2009, its candidates had triumphed in five of the 36 seats contested. In 2014, it fought nine seats but failed to open its account. The party did not contest the last assembly polls held in 2019.

Brijmohan Shrivastava, chief national spokesperson of the NCP (AP), attributed the victory to the enthusiastic efforts of party workers and leaders in Arunachal Pradesh. “The people of Arunachal Pradesh have shown confidence in the leadership, vision, and capability of our leaders Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel in addressing the critical issues of the state,” he said. “As we embark on forming the new Vidhan Sabha for the next five years, we pledge to uphold the principles of transparency, integrity, and inclusive governance.” Shrivastava also noted that the NCP HAD garnered 10.06 percent of the total vote share.

Another NCP (AP) candidate Ngonglin Boi lost the election in a close contest from Namsang assembly constituency. He was defeated by BJP candidate Wangki Lowang by only 56 votes. The NCP (AP) contested the poll on its own in Arunachal Pradesh. All its three candidates won against the BJP.

With this, the NCP (AP) now has MLAs in four states—Maharashtra, Nagaland, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh.

The poll results have the party poised to regain its national party status which it lost last year. “We lost the national party status when (Sharad) Pawar Saheb was our national president,” Shrivastava told Hindustan Times. “We are now planning to approach the Election Commission to get it back under the leadership of Ajit Dada Pawar.”

In a major setback to the undivided NCP, the Election Commission (EC) withdrew its national party status on April 11 on the grounds that it no longer fulfilled the eligibility criteria. The EC also revoked its state party status in three states—Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya—which paved the ground for it to remove the NCP’s national party status.

In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the party contested four seats in Maharashtra—Baramati, Raigad, Shirur and Osmanabad. It has also fielded a candidate, Ravindra Singh Dogra, in the bypoll for the Sujanpur assembly constituency in Himachal Pradesh. Dogra is contesting against BJP candidate Rajinder Rana and Congress candidate Ranjit Singh Rana.

According to the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, a political party needs to fulfil any of three conditions for national party status. First, it should secure at least six percent of the votes polled in four or more states in the Lok Sabha or assembly elections, and should also have at least four members in the Lok Sabha. Secondly, it needs to have at least two percent of the total Lok Sabha seats and candidates from not less than three states. Third, it should be recognised as a state party in at least four states.