NCPI Merger Gambit: Why TMC Rebels Side-Stepped The Eknath Shinde Playbook
Inside NCPI Merger: Why TMC Rebels Side-Stepped The Eknath Shinde Playbook Reported By, Edited By Last Updated: June 15, 2026, 15:58 IST Choosing the NCPI
Inside NCPI Merger: Why TMC Rebels Side-Stepped The Eknath Shinde Playbook Reported By, Edited By Last Updated: June 15, 2026, 15:58 IST Choosing the NCPI route, the rebels secured parliamentary survival, broke free from Kalighat’s control, gained an independent identity, and cleared the path to align with the NDA Rapid Read The rebels bypassed the “real party” template and engineered a quiet, overnight merger into an obscure, registered unrecognised entity—the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). (ANI) With 20 of 28 Lok Sabha MPs and a staggering 60 of 80 MLAs firmly in the rebel camp, the dissident faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC)—led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar in Parliament and Ritabrata Banerjee in Bengal legislative assembly—held all the cards required to pull off a textbook coup. Political observers quickly assumed they would execute the Eknath Shinde or Ajit Pawar playbook, claiming to be the ‘real TMC’, freezing the iconic twin-flowers symbol, and pushing Mamata Banerjee out of the very house she built. Instead, the rebels threw a curveball that left the political circles of not just Kolkata but the entire country scratching their heads. The bloc bypassed the “real party" template and engineered a quiet, overnight merger into an obscure, registered unrecognised entity—the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). The NCPI is a registered unrecognised political party (RUPP) formed in 2023, which fought an election in Tripura the same year. ALSO READ | ‘Once The MP-MLA Things Are Done…’: Ritabrata Banerjee Signals TMC Takeover, Eyes Local Bodies To understand why the Trinamool rebels traded the potent branding of the “real TMC" or why they were advised to do so by BJP’s Bengal-in-charge Bhupendra Yadav after an almost five-hour-long meeting, one has to look past the optics and dive into the cold, calculated realities of the anti-defection law and parliamentary bureaucracy.
The Trap of the ‘Sadiq Ali’ Quagmire The primary reason the rebels avoided claiming the parent party is that a “real party" battle is never won in a week. Under Para 15 of the Symbols Order, the Election Commission of India (ECI) relies on a strict legal framework—the 1971 Sadiq Ali ruling. This formula tests three things—the party’s objectives, its legislative majority, and its organisational majority. While the rebels undeniably controlled the legislative and parliamentary wings, they faced an insurmountable wall at the grassroots. The organisational framework of the Trinamool Congress, from booth-level committees to district presidents and the core working executive, still remains fiercely loyal to Mamata Banerjee. Had the rebels claimed the “real TMC" title, the ECI process would have dragged on for months, if not years. In the interim, the rebel MPs would have remained trapped in legislative limbo, bound by official TMC whips, and exposed to constant legal friction. The Sadiq Ali judgment has a strong connection to, and significant bearing on, the landmark Subhash Desai judgment of 2023. The former became the ECI’s guiding precedent for resolving election symbol disputes, while the latter addressed questions of defection, delineated the powers of the Speaker, and clarified the legal framework governing symbol allocation. In the 1971 Sadiq Ali case, the Supreme Court established the test of majority support as the primary criterion for determining entitlement to a party symbol. However, the 2023 Subhash Desai judgment cautioned that a mere ‘game of numbers’ could be misleading where legislators face potential disqualification under anti-defection provisions. ALSO READ | The Last Piece Of The Puzzle: Why TMC Rebels Need A Heavyweight On Their Side While the Sadiq Ali ruling was delivered in an era when no anti-defection law existed, the Subhash Desai judgment clarified the interaction between symbol disputes and the anti-defection regime, ensuring that questions of party identity and legislative majority are assessed within the constitutional framework governing defections.
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