BJP looks to complete organisational polls in key states like UP, Karnataka, even as it speeds up delayed party elections
Even as there are expectations that the election of the new BJP chief may be round the corner, a highly-placed source in the party said that these states being important, the party would want to first wind up presidential elections in these, before announcing the national president — something that may take some time.
The announcement of the new BJP president to replace JP Nadda has now seen one full year of delay after the end of the extension till June 2024 that the national executive of the party had given him in January 2023 in view of the Lok Sabha polls.
In Uttar Pradesh, while more than half the zilla elections have long been completed – the magic number required for the state chief to be appointed – party leaders say 'sab thanda padaa hai (things aren't moving till now).' A key source in the UP BJP said that with the sudden flurry of appointments of party presidents, there is rising expectation that UP may also have a party chief soon. 'There is still speculation as to what formula the party will adopt for UP – a Dalit, OBC or Savarna president, and which caste even among these categories. The face for the party chief will depend on that,' a BJP leader in UP said.
In Karnataka, too, things have been stuck long after half the zilla elections were completed. In the state, the BJP was also embarrassed by constant tirades of Basangouda Patil Yatnal against state BJP chief BY Vijayendra, son of former Chief Minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa, and had to expel Yatna from the party late in March 2025.
Meanwhile, the back-to-back announcements of state unit presidents by the BJP on Tuesday and Wednesday, with more expected this week, set party circles abuzz about the possibility of the organisational elections being complete soon.
After the party announced the names of Dr. Beicchua and VP Ramalingam as the respective presidents of its Mizoram and Puducherry units, PVN Madhav replaced D. Purandeshwari as the Andhra Pradesh BJP chief while N Ramchander Rao took over from Union Minister G Kishan Reddy in Telangana.
Mahendra Bhatt retained the party's reins in Uttarakhand and Dr. Rajiv Bindal in Himachal Pradesh even as the party was likely to announce the presidents of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh, Arunachal Pradesh. The process to elect party chiefs in West Bengal and Tripura among other units is also underway.
Adding to the tally of the state presidents to be appointed further, working party chief Ravindra Chavan was appointed president of the party's Maharashtra unit while Anil Tiwari was appointed the chief of the BJP's Andaman and Nicobar unit.
On Wednesday, the party's state units in Madhya Pradesh and Ladakh got their respective presidents with Betul legislator Hemant Khandelwal taking over from VD Sharma and Phunchok Tanzin being replaced by Tashi Gyalson Kachu.
'Organisational polls in more states are likely to conclude on or by July 4 in light of the auspiciousness of the period as per the Hindu calendar; we expect the entire organisational overhaul of the party to be complete within the month of Sawan till early August,' a party source said.
'All the state presidents appointed so far bear the stamp of the senior BJP leadership; it appears that the party is still yet to reach consensus with the RSS as far as the appointments of presidents of crucial states such as UP, Gujarat and Karnataka are concerned,' another source said.
As per the BJP's constitution, organisational elections proceed bottom-up. When half the booth-level presidents have been elected, the Mandal elections begin. With half the Mandal presidents appointed, the party starts the zilla elections, and when half the zilla presidents are announced, the party appoints the state president. The BJP national president is elected after half the state presidents have been appointed.
With the BJP having 37 state units in India, the magic number is therefore 19 — a number the party has already achieved. While the BJP constitution provides for election at every level, the national president and even the state presidents are conventionally elected unopposed, with only one person filing the nomination.
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