BJP Begins Process For National President Election, Appoints Returning Officers And In Charges For Delhi Polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) initiated the process for its organisational elections on Tuesday (15 October), leading up to the selection of a new party president. K Laxman was named as the National Returning Officer to oversee the election process.

Following the directive of the party’s national executive committee (NEC), BJP president JP Nadda also appointed vice-president Rekha Verma and MPs Sambit Patra and Naresh Bansal as co-returning officers to assist Laxman in the nationwide polls.

K Laxman, a Rajya Sabha member and president of the BJP's OBC Morcha since 2020, also serves on the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC), which makes key electoral decisions.

The group is now tasked with deciding the election officers in each state and ensuring the elections are conducted according to the party’s constitution.

This development comes as Nadda continues his extended term as BJP president while also managing responsibilities as a union minister. The leadership election follows a membership drive that has added over 9 crore new members to the party’s base.

According to party insiders, the process of selecting a new national president is expected to begin around early December. If delayed, the process will commence next year after at least half of the states have completed their organisational elections.

The membership drive in Maharashtra and Jharkhand will begin after the state assembly elections conclude on 23 November, while Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana, where elections have already taken place, will follow soon after.

Nadda has led the party since January 2020, and his three-year term was extended to facilitate the leadership transition. As per party rules, the national president’s term is typically three years, and the president is usually selected by consensus.

A BJP leader, speaking anonymously, emphasised that the leadership transition is crucial to maintaining momentum and addressing upcoming challenges. The new leadership will be pivotal in shaping the party’s direction and strengthening its organisation ahead of the significant elections in 2025 and beyond.

Names being discussed for the BJP president role include Vinod Tawde, Devendra Fadnavis, Bhupendra Yadav, Sanjay Joshi, Sudha Verma, Arun Singh, and Sunil Bansal.

A senior party leader noted that the next president could come from Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes (SC), or women’s ranks, signaling an important message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The party also made appointments for the Delhi legislative assembly elections, due for early next year. Lok Sabha MPs Baijayant Panda and Atul Garg has been appointed as in charge and co-in-charge respectively.