New Delhi:Twenty MPs from the Trinamool Congress - over two-thirds of the party's Lok Sabha members - met Speaker Om Birla last week to merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India, a registered but unrecognised political party in Tripura that claims some support among Bengali-speaking voters in that state, as well as Assam, Meghalaya, and Bengal.But the NCP has, so far, contested only one election - the 2023 Tripura poll.

In that exercise it fielded three candidates. Two of these candidates contested on the party's name and symbol - from the Chawmanu and Kailashahar constituencies - and managed 536 and 286 votes.

The third was an independent candidate from Ambasa and picked up 376 votes. The NCPI polled a combined 1,198 votes - 0.047 per cent of total cast in the election.

Now, howver, the party finds itself with 20 Lok Sabha MPs on its books without even contesting a federal election.

Why did the Trinamool's 20 rebels - intent on forceing their way out after a disastrous April-May Bengal election - link with a political non-entity? Why did they not form a separate group? That was the initial idea. 

But, as it turned out, a separate party was not tenable under existing laws without their surrendering parliamentary seats, as they would have been subject ot disqualification under the Tenth Schedule since it would have been a merger and not a split.

Source:Ndtv