In a 1st, NCP to fight UP local body polls

Lucknow: Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will contest the upcoming local body polls (due in November) in Uttar Pradesh. NCP which is a major constituent of the anti-BJP axis in the country will contest the local body polls in the state for the first time.
The party’s decision to contest the local body polls in UP is because of its need to be in a stronger position in the state before the 2024 general elections.
“UP se badi koi seedhi nahin hai (there is no ladder bigger than UP when it comes to the national politics),” said the party’s national general secretary and UP in charge KK Sharma, adding that the party will field its candidates in UP in the 2024 elections in a big way.
But before that, NCP will have its reach extended to the ground level and in every part of the state. “The membership drive is going on. New people are being added,” said Sharma, adding that the upcoming national convention of the party in Delhi next month will focus on the party’s preparations and roadmap for local body polls in UP as well.
NCP has its presence in UP since 2001. Last month, NCP reorganised its UP unit and constituted a 73-member state executive committee, comprising state president, 22 vice-presidents, 24 general secretaries, 11 secretaries and 15 members. The members have been drawn from all the regions of UP, maximum from Purvanchal, to have political access to every district in UP.
The 2022 assembly elections in UP also brought a turnaround in NCP’s electoral strategy in the state. The earlier two assembly elections in UP held in 2012 and 2017 were contested by the party alone.
In 2022 assembly elections, the party entered into an alliance with the main opposition party, Samajwadi Party, and contested Anupshahr assembly seat (in Bulandshahr) on its own party symbol. Though the party lost, it has not dampened the hopes for the 2024 general elections.