BJP leaders and workers during a party meeting, in Lucknow, on Sunday, July 14, 2024.
PTI
New Delhi: The BJP will have a new president by the end of the year. The long-winding process of the internal organisational polls in the party will begin soon after the state executive meetings finish following which a membership drive, meeting of office bearers and then a National Executive will take place.
A general secretary in the party told DH that the process is likely to end by November. “By December, a new president will be in place. We will then hold an extended National Executive – similar to the National Council which was held in January in Delhi this year,” the leader said.
Senior party sources said that the process of internal polls in the party will commence from August, after the Budget session comes to an end.
Another BJP leader said that the process will start soon after the state executive meetings are over – currently the state executive meeting in Uttar Pradesh is going on. Last week similar meetings in Goa and Rajasthan had taken place. Party president JP Nadda took part in the state executive of UP over the weekend.
The party will launch a membership drive soon, DH has previously reported. The membership drive will go on for over a month and will end sometime in October. “The party’s state units will first launch a drive, then once the memberships are done, a verification of all members will be done. This will end sometime in October,” the senior party leader quoted above said.
After the last membership drive in the party, which took place in 2018, the BJP had said that they have 18 crore members. “Every party member needs to renew their membership once in a decade. So existing members, too, will have to fill the membership forms,” the leader added. These forms can be filed online as well as offline.
After the membership drive, elections for the mandal presidents will take place, following which district presidents will be elected. Following this, elections for state councils and state presidents will take place. These internal polls will take place in November.
After the polls, a meeting of the national office-bearers and then a meeting of the national executive will be held. Sources said that this is when the president will be elected. For the election, state councils of atleast 50% states will have to be elected first.
Following the BJP’s 2024 Lok Sabha results, the RSS could have a bigger say in the election process. Sources in the saffron outfit have indicated a preference for a Dalit, OBC or woman candidate.