BJP appoints 'state election officers' to oversee organisational polls in 3 states

New Delhi: The BJP on Friday appointed 'state election officers' for overseeing its organisational elections in Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. Union ministers Kiren Rijiju and Harsh Malhotra and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad have been assigned the task for the three states, respectively.

The three MPs will be the central leaders in charge of the elections of presidents and national council members from these states, K Laxman, the national returning officer for organisational elections, said in a statement.

The appointment is likely to give a fresh push to complete the already drawn-out exercise for organisational polls in the party, which will culminate with the election of a new national president to replace incumbent J P Nadda, who is also a Union minister.

The ruling BJP has 37 organisational states in total, and the electoral process must be completed in at least 19 of them before the official procedure to elect the national president begins. So far, the exercise is complete in 14 of them.

However, the BJP is yet to elect its presidents in a number of key states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat. It had appointed 'state election officers' for these states in January.

The exercise, in line with the party's constitution, had begun with a nationwide membership drive in September last year and was expected to end early this year.

The tenure of the national president is of three years, and Nadda had assumed the office in January 2020. His term, however, was extended due to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, and he will continue in the office till the election of his replacement.