NCP present only in the capital

Although the National Citizen Party (NCP) quickly became a focus of attention after entering national politics, it has yet to establish a strong presence at the grassroots level. Born out of the July mass uprising, the party began its journey under young leadership with a promise of a “new political settlement” and won six parliamentary seats in its first national election. But in contrast to this visible success at the national level, the organisational picture from districts and upazilas to unions and wards is quite different. In some areas, committees exist but have no regular activities; in others, resignations by leaders have weakened the organisational structure; and in some places, the party's political presence is barely visible. As a result, while the NCP has quickly gained recognition in national politics, turning that recognition into lasting organisational strength is now a major challenge for the party.

Although the NCP remains regularly active in Dhaka-centred programmes, press conferences and political statements, its organisational activities remain limited across large parts of the country. The weakness at the grassroots level can be seen to varying degrees in different regions. Soon after the Chattogram metropolitan convening committee was announced on May 15, 22 leaders and activists resigned collectively. Earlier, in March, 87 people, including the convener of the Jurachhari upazila committee, resigned five days after Ujjal Chakma, joint member secretary of the Rangamati district unit, stepped down. At the beginning of the year, more than 300 NCP leaders and activists, including Khagrachhari district organising secretary Biplab Tripura, resigned from the party and joined the BNP. Similar signs of organisational weakness have been seen in all three districts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The situation is not limited to the hill districts. Although committees exist in Gopalganj, Madaripur, Faridpur and Shariatpur, the party's activities are not particularly visible there. Grassroots leaders and activists said organisational activities are also limited in various districts of the Barishal, Chattogram, Sylhet and Mymensingh regions. In other words, although committees exist on paper, the organisation has no effective presence at the grassroots level in many places.

Central organisation also shows signs of fragmentation

Changes have also taken place continuously within the central organisation. When the NCP was launched on February 28, 2025, its central committee had 217 members. Within a year, the number had fallen to 172. This means at least 45 leaders were no longer on the central committee. Some resigned, some were expelled and others moved to different political platforms. Although some later returned to the party, most remained outside.

The decision to join the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance ahead of the national election also created tensions within the party, prompting several key leaders to resign. As a result, the major organisational question now facing the party, which gained rapid recognition in national politics, is how to turn that recognition into grassroots strength.

The NCP leadership has also acknowledged the weakness of its grassroots organisation. Convenor Nahid Islam said at a party coordination meeting in September last year that the party had failed to achieve as much organisational strength in one year as it should have.

Party leaders say the political instability following the mass uprising, along with the need to move from leading the movement to forming a political party and then contesting a national election within a short period, limited opportunities for organisational expansion. According to NCP leaders, such organisational weakness is not entirely unusual for a new party. Soon after its formation, the party had to move from leading the movement to forming a political organisation and then participating in a national election. Unlike established political parties, it did not have years to build networks at the union, upazila and ward levels. As a result, although it quickly established a profile in national politics, it had limited time to build a lasting organisational foundation at the grassroots level.
Against this backdrop, the NCP has now launched a major grassroots organisational drive ahead of the local government elections. The party's goal is to strengthen its organisational structure from the upazila level down to unions and wards and establish a permanent political base at the local level. Central leaders of the party say that after gaining national recognition and electoral success, their main focus is now on grassroots organisation. The NCP wants to build a lasting political base by expanding its organisation from districts and metropolitan areas to upazilas, municipalities, unions and wards. The process is now being accelerated with the local elections approaching.

According to NCP sources, all of the party's committees at the district and metropolitan levels have already been formed and announced. In addition, there are around 400 committees at the upazila level and nearly 1,000 at the union level. The party's organisational position is comparatively stronger in the northern region. In particular, all NCP committees at the union and ward levels have been formed in Panchagarh, the home district of the party's chief organiser, Sarjis Alam.

NCP central member Yasir Arafat said that after completing the formation of committees in all 64 districts, the NCP is now planning to form committees at the upazila level. The party plans to complete committees in all upazilas by October. The respective district units have been given deadlines to form these committees. If it is not possible to form full committees, partial convening committees consisting of 11 to 15 members may be formed, with instructions to turn them into full 51-member committees within the following 15 days.

The party also plans to expand its organisation down to the union level. Upazila committees that have already been formed or will be formed have been instructed to begin the process of establishing union convening committees. At the same time, initiatives are being taken to strengthen the organisational structures at the municipal and city corporation levels.

NCP chief organiser Sarjis Alam said work is progressing rapidly to strengthen the party's organisation at the grassroots level. The party is preparing to field candidates in the local elections across the country's nearly 4,600 unions. He also said the NCP is moving forward with the goal of contesting the upcoming local elections independently.

According to Sarjis Alam, preparations are under way to field NCP-backed candidates from every union down to the ward level in the upcoming local elections. Alongside expanding the organisation at the union level, the process of selecting candidates is also moving forward.

Sarwar Tushar, a member of the NCP's political council and head of its media subcommittee, said the weakness at the grassroots level is natural for a new party. However, work is under way to overcome the weakness, and strengthening the grassroots organisation is now the party's main goal. He said the party has committees in almost all districts and metropolitan areas. Committees have been formed in around 70 percent of the upazilas. The target is to complete the upazila-level structure by October and establish committees in all unions by December. The party also plans to form ward-level committees by the middle of next year.