New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party is set to elect its new national president on January 20, with the party scheduled to publish its internal electoral rolls later on Friday, marking the formal start of the election process.
According to an official notification issued by BJP National Returning Officer and Rajya Sabha MP K Laxman, the electoral rolls will be released at noon. The nomination process for candidates will begin on January 19. Nominations can be filed from 2 PM to 4 PM, followed by scrutiny of papers between 4 PM and 5 PM. Candidates will have time to withdraw their nominations from 5 PM to 6 PM on the same day.
The final announcement of the new party president, or voting if required, will take place on January 20.
At present, Bihar Minister and five-time MLA Nitin Nabin is serving as the BJP’s national working president and is widely expected to succeed Union Minister JP Nadda, who took charge as party president in January 2020. Nadda was also the BJP’s first national working president.
As per Article 21 of the BJP constitution, an eligible member can hold the post of national president for two consecutive terms of three years each. Article 19 states that the election is conducted through an electoral college comprising members of the National Council and State Councils, in accordance with rules framed by the National Executive.
A minimum of 20 members of the electoral college can jointly propose a candidate for the post. The nominee must be an active member for at least four terms and should have a minimum of 15 years of party membership. If only one nomination is filed, the president is elected unopposed without voting.
The BJP National Council includes members elected by state councils, 10 per cent of BJP MPs, former national presidents, state presidents, leaders of the party in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and leaders in state legislatures. The State Councils consist of members elected from district units, a share of party legislators and MPs from the state, former state presidents, members of the state executive, legislative leaders, and nominated members.
Sources said all chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, state BJP presidents, national office bearers and senior party leaders have been asked to be present in Delhi during the election process.
Three sets of nomination papers are expected to be filed for the post. One set will reportedly carry signatures of more than 20 elected state BJP presidents, while another will include endorsements from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and outgoing president JP Nadda.
Nitin Nabin was appointed as the BJP’s national working president in December last year, a move seen as the party’s push towards younger leadership. Since taking charge, he has played a key role in preparing the organisation for upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry.
In recent weeks, Nabin visited Tamil Nadu to assess the party’s strategy against the MK Stalin-led DMK government. Prior to that, he was in Assam, where the BJP is gearing up for a closely contested battle against the Congress.
