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The Nationalist Congress Party became a registered political party when the Election Commission of India accorded registration to the party as a political party on 5th June 1999 under section 29A of the Representation of Peoples' Act.
NCP congratulates the people for the support they have extended to our party and calls upon them to come forward and assist the party in our endeavour to establish a society, where there will be no exploitation, starvation, unemployment or poverty.
Constitution of NCP
Article 1 : Name of the Party :
The name of the Party shall be "Nationalist Congress Party", hereinafter called 'the Party'. Its headquarters shall be located at New Delhi.
Article 2 : Objectives :
The Party shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and stand committed to the values as enshrined therein, especially in its preamble. More specifically, the Party aims at :
i. Stimulating, promoting and strengthening the spirit and forces of nationalism and vigilantly preserving the Indian national identity, with special emphasis on the egalitarian and secular ethos of the Indian Republic and combating fundamentalism and sectarianism of all shades;
ii. Maintaining the unity and integrity of India by building up on the concept of unity in diversity and by strengthening federalism and decentralisation of power consistent with the Gandhian concept of taking it right down to the village level;
iii. Promoting economic growth and prosperity through competition, self-reliance, individual initiative and enterprise with emphasis on equity and social justice;
iv. Strengthening the Rule of Law and Constitutional Order based on Parliamentary and participatory democracy;
v. Empowerment of the weaker sections through affirmative actions in favour of the disadvantaged sections of the society. The Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Women and the Disabled;
vi. Promoting science and technology, including by drawing upon traditional indigenous know-how and constantly adapting the same to the changing needs of modern Indian society; monitoring the application of science and technology so adapted, immediately for the overall betterment of the people and ultimately for generation, amongst them, of the spirit of inquiry and scientific temper;
vii. Strengthening the forces of peace within the country and in the world; attempting to secure universal, non-discriminatory disarmament; maintaining an independent Indian position and identity in world affairs; and committing to resolving international conflicts through a strengthened and truly representative United Nations;
viii. Ensuring institutionalised and democratic functioning of the Party at all levels by encouraging free exchange of views and permitting the members of the Party to make their best individual contribution to enrich the lives of the people in all spheres;
Article 3 : Flag :
The flag of the Party shall be Tricolour with saffron on the top, white at the middle and green at the bottom, each piece triangular in shape. The length of the flag shall be one and a half times to its width. The wider side of the white portion shall touch both the top and bottom ends of the flag near the mast, the wider sides of the other pieces being, on the opposite sides . The clock shall be printed boldly in black colour on the wider side of the white portion.
Article 4 : Election Symbol :
The Election symbol of the Party shall be the 'Clock' as shown above.
Article 5 : Constituents :
The party will include the National convention and its special sessions and
i) Nationalist Congress Party - National Committee NCP - NC
ii) Nationalist Congress Party - Working Committee NCP - WC
iii) Nationalist Congress Party - State Committee NCP - SC
iv) Nationalist Congress Party - Union Territory Committee NCP - UTC
v) Nationalist Congress Party - Regional Committee NCP - RC
vi) Nationalist Congress Party - District Committee NCP - DC
vii) Committees subordinate to the District Committees like Block/
Constituency Committees and such other Committees as may be
determined by the State Committee.
viii) All abbreviations of the names of Party Committees occurring in the constitution such as NC, wc, sc, utc, rc, dc, cc, AC, cdc, tc, PC and UC may be read as ncp-nc, ncp-wc, ncp-sc, ncp-utc, ncp-rc, ncp-dc, ncp-cc, ncp-ac, ncp-cdc, ncp-tc, ncp-pc and ncp-uc.
Explanation-
1. The area of the SC and UTCs shall be the same as those of the state and union territories as spelt out in the Constitution of India.
The Headquarters of these Committees shall also be those of these States and Union Territories unless changed by the SCs with the prior approval of the Nationalist Congress Party Working Committee (WC);
ii) The WC may, after consulting the concerned SCs, re-demarcate their areas including by their abolition or their full/partial mergers;
iii) The W.C. can in consultation with the SCs concerned, consititute Regional Committees of the Party Whenever it deems necessary for the party to do so in order to strengthen the organsational functioning there.
The area of Regional Committee will be demarcated by the WC. The Regional Committees will be subordinate to the State Committee in all matters except in the affairs connected with elections to the Metropolitan City, Corporations and other local bodies and the functioning of the members of those local bodies within the region.
The District Committees within the jurisdiction of the Regional Committees will be subordinate to the Regional Committees and will function under the guidance and supervision of the Regional Committees.
The President of the Regional Committee shall be the Vice President of the State Committee.
iv) The area and headquarters of District Committees shall be such as may be determined by the WC, after consultation with SCs. Those of other sub-State level Committees may be determined by the concerned SC.
Article 6 : Membership/Active Membership :
i) Any person to become a primary member of the Party shall fulfil all the following conditions :
(a) should be of the age of 18 years or above;
(b) should accept and subscribe in writing in Form-A to the objectives of the Party as spelt out in Article 2;
(c) should pay a triennial membership fee of Rs 5/- Only.
(d) should not be a member of any other political party, communal or other, which has separate constitution,
membership and programme.
ii) No person shall be eligible to become a primary member of the Party except at his/her permanent place of residence or where he/she carries on his/her usual vocation;
iii) No person shall be a member at more than one place;
iv) A member shall not change his/her place of membership except on representation given in writing to the concerned designated authority at the District or State level and on the acceptance of such representation;
v) The term of membership, primary or active (mentioned below) shall be from the first of January of the year or from the date of enrolment as member upto 31st of December of the subsequent third year;
vi) Permanent Register of primary members shall be maintained, within their jurisdiction, by every Block/Constituency or other Subordinate Committee, copies thereof being sent to District Committee concerned as per prescribed rules;
vii) Renewal of primary membership shall be deemed to have been completed by depositing the membership subscription; together with the application for renewal of membership.
Viii The triennial subscriptions paid by primary and active members shall be distributed in the following ratios between the various Committees:
| NC. | 10% |
| SCs | 25% |
| District Committees | 25% |
| Other Subordinate Committees | 40% |
The SC concerned shall determine the proportional distribution of 40% share of primary and active membership
subscriptions amongst Sub-District Subordinate Committees.
Active Membership:
ix) The following categories of persons who are primary members are eligible to be active members on enrolling 10 primary members triennially:
(a) Members of the Panchayats, Block, Development Committees, Zila Parishads, Notified Area Committees, Town Area Committees, Municipal Corporations, other local bodies, Metropolitan Councils, State Legislatures
and Parliament;
(b) Those who are actively connected with such organisations as are recognised for the purpose by the WC;
(c) Freedom Fighters who have undergone imprisonment or were externed or were underground or were penalised for participating in freedom movement;
(d) Any person who has been a primary member for two consecutive terms.
(e) Any other person approved by the President of the Party.
(f) Every Active Member shall pay Rs.5/- towards the fee for active membership as well as Rs. 50/- collected from the 10 Primary Members enrolled by him alongwith the application for active membership.
x) Every active member shall make a declaration in Form-B under his/her signature and fulfil the conditions mentioned therein.
xi) Every active member shall undergo a minimum training as may be prescribed by the WC;
xii) Unless, he/she undertakes to undergo the minimum training mentioned above, no active member shall be entitled to contest for elections to the Party posts or to the Parliament, State legislative assembly or Metropolitan Council or local bodies on party tickets.
xiii) No person shall be selected for election on Party ticket to the Parliament, State Legislatures and local bodies unless he/she is an active member;
xiv) Active membership may be renewed on the approval of membership renewal application in Form-C duly filled in and authenticated;
xv) (a) Permanent Register of active members shall be maintained by the District/City Committees. A copy of
the Permanent Register duly certified by the District/City Committee President shall be made available to the SC. The District/City Committee will issue identity cards with photographs of the members pasted on the cards
under signature of the President of the concerned District/City Committee and of the concerned SC;
(b) The SC shall supply a duly certified copy of the Permanent Register of active members within their jurisdiction to the office of the WC and keep it informed of any changes therein from time to time;
(c) The Register shall contain the full name, address, age, occupation, place of residence and date of enrolment of every member;
(d) Membership shall cease by death, resignation, removal or non-payment of contribution and non-renewal of
membership;
xviii) Each active member shall contribute to the Party Fund certain percentage of his/her income, as prescribed in the rules by the wc.
Article 7: Term of the Party Committees:
i) The term of every Committee of the Party and of its office bearers and members shall ordinarly be three years;
ii) The meetings of the District Committees and the SCs shall ordinarily be held within the time frame as prescribed in rules;
Article 8: Reservation for Women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities;
(i) 33% of the seats in different Party Committees shall be reserved for women;
i) Not less than 20% of the Seats shall be reserved in different Party Committees for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities.
Article 9 : Constitution and Jurisdiction of Subordinate committees :
The constitution and jurisdiction of the committees subordinate to District Committees like Block/Constituency Committee, Panchayat/Town area or City Division Committee/Primary Commitee will be decided by the State Committee as per the Rules of the Party.
Article 10 : District Committees :
A district Committee shall cover an area prescribed by the SC in its Constitution and shall consist of :
(i) Six members elected by secret ballot by each Block/Constituency Committee as per rules prescribed by WC;
(ii) All ex-Presidents of the District Committee who have completed a term of 365 days and have continued to be active members;
(iii) Members of the SC who reside in or have been elected from the district;
(iv) Presidents of the Constituency/ Block Committees, provided that they shall not be eligible to become either President or Secretary of the District Committee;
(v) Members of the Legislature Parties of the Nationalist Congress Party, both Central and State, from the district, provided that they are active members;
(vi) Leaders of the Party in Municipal Corporations, Municipalities and District Boards/Zilla Parishads or Janpads in the District, provided that they are active members;
(vii) Members co-opted by the District Committee as per rules prescribed by the WC.
(viii) The District Committee shall elect from among its members an executive committee consisting of 15 members including the President and other Office Bearers.
Article 11 : Regional Committees of NCP :
Regional Committees of NCP will have jurisdiction over the area demorcated by the Working Committee and shall consist of :
1. Delegates elected to the State Committees from each of the Constituency Committees within the region.
2. All Ex-presidents of the Region who have completed a term of 365 days and continue to be active member of the Party.
3. Members of the Working Committee who reside within the region.
4. Presidents of Constituency/Block Committees in the region.
5. Members of the Legislature parties of NCP both in the Parliament and in the Assembly from the Region.
6. Leaders of the Municipal corporations, Municipalities, Zila Parishads and District Councils of the Party.
7. Members co-opted by the Executive Committee of the Region from special elements not adequately represented and others in accordance with the rules of the Party.
All the members except the co-opted members will have the right to vote but only the delegates elected from consituency/Block Committees will be eligible to be elected as President or as other office bearers of the party.
The Regional Committee shall elect from among its members an Executive Committee consisting of 21 members including the President and other office bearers.
Article 12 : Nationalist Congress Party State Committee :
The State Committee shall consist of :-
1. Delegates elected from the constituency/Block Committees according to the number of voters in the Assembly Constituency as hereunder :
Constituencies with a voters' strength of 50,000 and below electing one delegate and those with a voters' strength above 50,000 and upto 1,00,000 electing two delegates and those with a voters' strength of above 1,00,000 electing three members.
The constituencies that come under the three categories will be decided by the State Committee on the basis of the number of voters in the voters list of each constituency.
An Active member ordinarily residing or having his/her place of business, occupation or profession within the area of the S.C. would be eligible to be a candidate for election as deligate from any Assembly/Block Committee within the area of the said SC provided that
(a) Conditions and conduct of elections will be in accordance with the rules prescribed by the WC;
(b) In the following States and Union Territories, the number of elected members of the SC/UTC shall be equal to the number of Members of the State/Territorial Legislative Assembly:
(1) Arunachal Pradesh, (2) Goa, (3) Manipur, (4) Meghalaya, (5) Mizoram, (6) Nagaland, (7) Pondicherry, (8) Sikkim and (9) Tripura
(c) From the UTCs of Andaman Nicobar islands, Dadra- Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Chandigarh Territories, there shall be twenty five members each;
(ii) Ex-presidents of the SC who have completed a term of 365 days and who continue to be Active members;
(iii) Presidents of the District Committees provided that they shall not be eligible to become either President or
Secretary of the SC;
(iv) WC members who reside in the State;
(v) Members elected by the Legislature Party of the Nationalist Congress Party at the rate of 5% of the number of SC/UTC members subject to a maximum of 15;
(vi) Members who are co-opted by the SC from special elements not adequately represented and others in accordance with the rules prescribed by the WC.
(vii) The State Committee shall from amongst its members elect an Executive Committee consisting of 10% of the total number State Committee members in each state subject to a minimum of 21 membres including the President and other Office Bearers.
2. Every member of the SC shall pay an annual fee of Rs. 50.00 of which Rs. 25.00 shall be remitted to the WC as delegate fee and shall collect Rs. 100.00 for the Party Fund triennially within 3 months of his/her election to the SC and deposit it with it and obtain a receipt thereof;
3. He/she shall receive a certificate duly signed by a Secretary of the SC that he/she is a member and has collected Party Fund. Any member, who fails to pay subscription or collect the fund within the period stipulated, shall forfeit the right to exercise the functions of a member including the right to attend any meeting of the SC till such dues are cleared. The SC shall forward to WC Office a certified list of such Members not later than the date fixed by the WC in that behalf;
Note: The SC will decide the proportion in which the Party Fund may be distributed among Subordinate Committees of the Party.
4. Every SC shall coordinate the activities of specialised Committees and shall:
(i) Ordinarily function through the District Committees;
(ii) Subject to the general supervision and control of the WC, be in-charge of the affairs of the Party Committees within its own area and to that end frame its Constitution, not inconsistent with this Constitution, which shall come into operation only with the previous sanction of the WC;
(iii) Submit to the WC an annual report of the work done by the Nationalist Congress Party Organisation in the State including audited balance sheets;
(iv) Pay to the WC before a date to be fixed by it, the share due to it out of the members' fees vide Article 6(viii) and clause 2 above.
5. The State which has not completed the formation of the State Committee on or before the date fixed by the Working Committee, may, at the discretion of the W. C., be disentitled to be represented at the National Convention. But the W. C. may as a special case, allow the existing delegates to the National Convention from any particular State to participate in the National Convention of the Party provided that they are satisfied that the process fo election of election of new delegates cannot be completed before the National Convention.
In such cases the WC may, on the request of the concerned State/Regional or Territorial Committee, extend the time for the completion of election in that unit.
6. The WC may suspend any SC on its failure to function in terms of the Constitution or in accordance with its direction and form an adhoc committee to carry on the Party's work in State;
7. Each SC/UTC shall in accordance with the directions/guidelines issued by the WC constitute a Trust for holding immovable properties belonging to itself and also the properties belonging to other Committees, namely, District Committees, Block Committees and other Subordinate Committees. The number of trustees on the Board of Trustees of the said Trust shall not be less than 5 and not more than 9 including the Chairman and other ex-officio Trustees. The Board of Trustees shall be appointed by the SC/UTC and shall comprise of persons as approved by the WC. The President of the SC/UTC shall be the Chairman officio of the Trust. The Treasurer of the WC and General Secretary In-charge of the concerned SC/UTC Shall be ex-officio members of the Board. The term of the Board of Trustees other than the Chairman and the two ex-officio Trustees shall be three years. The properties shall be held in the name of the said Trust and if that be not possible in certain case/cases, then in such manner as directed by the WC.
Article 13 : Delegates : to the National Convention :
All members of the State Committee shall be delegates to the
National Convention of the Party.
Article 14 : Nationalist Congress Party National Committee (NCP-NC) :
1. The National Commitee of the Party shall consist of :-
(i) One tenth of the number of members of the SC elected by them from amongst themselves by proportional representation according to the system of single transferable vote, provided that the number is not less than five; however four members each shall be elected from Chandigarh, Andaman Nicobar, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep UTCs;
(ii) President of the Nationalist Congress Party
(iii) Ex-Presidents of the Party who have completed a term of 365 days and have continued to be Active
members of the Party;
(iv) Presidents of the SCs, provided that they shall not be eligible to become office-bearers of the N.C.
(v) Leader of the Nationalist Congress Party in Parliament;
(vi) Leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party in the Legislatures and Leaders of the Councillors in Union Territories and Metropolitan Councils;
(vii) 15 members elected by the Nationalist Congress Party in parliament according to the system of single transferable vote;
(viii) Members co-opted by the WC from special elements not adequately represented and others in accordance with the rules prescribed by it;
2. (i) The President of the Nationalist Congress Party, shall be the President of the N. C.;
(ii) The NC shall arrange for the implementation of the programme of the work laid down by the Party and shall have powers to deal with matters and situations that may arise during its term of office;
(iii) The NC shall have power to frame rules, not inconsistent with this Constitution for regulating all matters connected with the Party which shall be binding on all subordinate Party Committees;
(iv) The NC shall meet as often as required by the WC but not less than twice a year, or on a joint requisition addressed to the WC by not less than 20% of the total 4 number of NC members having full voting rights. Such requisition shall specify the purpose for which the requisitionists desire a meeting of the NC. A requisitioned meeting shall be held within two months of the receipt of the requisition provided that not more than one requisition can be moved in one year. At any requisitioned meeting, additional items of business may be brought up by the WC for consideration;
(v) At all the meetings of the NC, other than requisitioned meetings, at least two hours shall be allotted for consideration of proposions of which due notice has been given by the members of the NC in accordance with the rules prescribed in that behalf;
(vi) One hundred or one-fifth of the total number of members, whichever is less, shall form the quorum for the NC meeting;
(vii) Every member of the NC shall pay an annual subscription of Rs.100/- and collect Rs. 200/- for the Party Fund within three months of his/her election to the NC and deposit it with the NC and shall obtain a receipt thereof. He/she shall receive a certificate of membership, duly signed by one of the Secretaries of the NC. Any member who fails to pay subscription or collect the fund within the period stipulated, shall forfeit the right to take part in any of the meetings of NC, Subjects Committee or any National Convention till such dues are cleared up;
Note : A member of NC need not collect fund for the SC also.