BJP to announce new party president on January 20

New Delhi: The BJP on Friday released the schedule for the election of the party's national president, saying nominations for the post will be filed on January 19, and the name of the new party chief will be announced the next day.

According to the organisational poll schedule released by BJP national returning officer K Laxman, the nomination for the election of the party chief can be filed between 2 pm and 4 pm on January 19 and the nominations can be withdrawn by the candidates between 5 pm and 6 pm same day.

The scrutiny of the documents of the candidates' nomination papers will be carried out between 4 pm and 5 pm on January 19, according to the notification issued by Laxman, who is also a BJP Rajya Sabha MP .

The polling will be held "if needed" on January 20 and an official announcement of the name of the new elected BJP national president will be made on the same day, Laxman said.

The entire poll process will be held at the party headquarters.

According to party sources, BJP national working president Nitin Nabin is likely to be elected unopposed as the party chief as it is unlikely that any other party leader will join the contest.

Nabin is likely to replace J P Nadda as BJP's president, with the party's top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah backing Nabin's candidature.