National People's Party (India)

The National People's Party is a national-level political party in India, though its influence is mostly concentrated in the state of Meghalaya. The party was founded by P. A. Sangma after his expulsion from the NCP in July 2012. It was accorded national party status on 7 June 2019. It is the first political party from Northeastern India to have attained this status.

History
In January 2013, P. A. Sangma 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. Sangma also reiterated that though the membership of the party is open to all, it shall be a tribalcentric party.

Sangma who has been a nine-time Member of Parliament, had announced to form a new political party soon after his expulsion from the Nationalist Congress Party in July 2012, when he refused to accept the party's decision to quit the 2012 Indian presidential election.

NPP contested the assembly election of Rajasthan in December 2013, under the leadership of Kirodi Lal Meena, a former BJP member and MP (Independent from Dausa) at the time of election and won four seats.

Currently, it is a part of North-East Democratic Alliance consisting of political parties of the northeast which has supported the National Democratic Alliance.

In 2015, in a rare move election commission suspended NPP for its failure to provide the party's expenditure during the 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, Nationalist Congress Party, Jan Adhikar Party, Samras Samaj Party, National People's Party and Samajwadi Janata Party – announced the formation of a third front known as the Socialist Secular Morcha ahead of the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. The National People's Party fought on three seats as part of the alliances, and lost in all.

In May 2016, after the Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance formed its first government in Assam, and formed a new alliance called the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) with Himanta Biswa Sarma as its convener. The Chief Ministers of the northeastern states of Sikkim, Assam, and Nagaland too belong to this alliance. Thus, the National People's Party joined the NEDA.

The NPP contested nine candidates in the 2017 Manipur Legislative Assembly election and won four seats.

The NPP won 19 seats in the 2018 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election. Although the ruling Indian National Congress emerged as the single largest party, the NEDA collectively held a majority. Conrad Sangma became Chief Minister of Meghalaya, becoming the first member of the party to lead an Indian state.

The party decided to contest the 2023 assembly elections without any pre-poll alliances. The party won 26 seats, and formed a government supported by BJP and other NEDA members.

On 6 May 2023, the People's Democratic Front party merged with the National People's Party.

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.

Electoral Performance
The party won a seat in 2014 Loksabha elections from Tura and Sangma became MP ones again. After the death of P. A. Sangma in 2016, his son Conrad Sangma won a by-election held in May 2016 fo fill this seat. The party had proposed to contest election and expand its base in tribal constituencies of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, northern West Bengal and the Northeast India.

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 and other parties and party president Conrad Sangma 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.