The National Citizen Party (NCP), a political party formed by the youth leaders of the anti-discrimination student movement, is moving forward aggressively with the objectives of fielding its own candidates in the upcoming local government elections and proving its organizational strength in field politics. To achieve this, the party has intensified its efforts to strengthen its organization at the grassroots level. As part of this initiative, coordination meetings and political workshops have been held across two divisions.

According to NCP sources, emphasis has been placed on organizing the grassroots level ahead of local government elections. Policy-making leaders of the party have planned a phased expansion of the organizational structure across the country with the goal of nominating candidates for chairman positions in every Union Parishad (UP). At the same time, there is a goal to intensify political programs. The NCP aims to complete the formation of committees in all upazilas of the country by this September, in all municipalities by October, and at the union level by November. There is also a target to establish committees in every ward of the country by April next year. On August 28, organizational instructions were issued to the country's units, setting a deadline for forming upazila committees.

Responsible leaders of the NCP state that out of 80 district and metropolitan organizational units, 76 have convening committees. Committees have been formed in 366 out of the 500 upazila-level units. The goal is to finish forming convening committees in the remaining upazilas by September 28. Where full committees are not feasible, instructions have been given to form partial convening committees consisting of 11 to 15 members, followed by a 51-member full committee within the next 15 days.

Sarjis Alam, Chief Organizer of the NCP's Northern Region, told Prothom Alo that there is a target to complete the formation of convening committees in 330 municipalities by October. The formulation of organizational committees in about 4,600 unions by November and the announcement of NCP-supported UP chairman candidates during the same timeframe are also progressing.

The NCP has fixed certain criteria for selecting leadership at the upazila level. According to party directives, it is preferable if the upazila convenor is over 40 years old and the member secretary is over 35. However, under no circumstances can anyone under the age of 30 be made member secretary. Individuals considered as prospective candidates for upazila parishad chairman positions have been asked to be given priority for the posts of convenor or member secretary. Additionally, importance has been placed on local acceptance, familiarity, leadership capability, loyalty to the party, and a clean image. Alongside ensuring at least 5 percentage representation of women in committees, the proportional representation of local religious and ethnic groups has also been mentioned.

To strengthen the organization at the grassroots, the NCP held coordination meetings and political workshops across 22 organizational units in the Chattogram and Barishal divisions from August 21 to September 9. Sarwar Tushar, member of the party's Political Council and head of the Media Sub-Committee, said these include 15 organizational units in the Chattogram division and 7 in the Barishal division.

Top NCP leaders believe these coordination meetings have invigorated grassroots leaders and workers. Sarjis Alam stated that the results of these programs have already started coming in. In districts and upazilas where there were no organizational committees or activities were somewhat stagnant, the process of forming committees is now in its final stages.