BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit is intensifying efforts to elect a new state president amid delays.
NEW DELHI: After a prolonged delay, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is moving forward with its organisational elections across various states, a necessary step before the party elects its new national president. In this context, the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit is actively working to appoint its next state president. Notably, the party is intensifying its efforts to complete organisational elections and install new leadership at various levels within the state unit. This internal electoral process is being carried out prior to the selection of the BJP’s national president. The election process within the Uttar Pradesh unit had already experienced considerable delay, primarily due to the recently concluded by-elections, in which the BJP secured a decisive victory. Organisational elections in UP appear to have been delayed as the party’s central leadership is still in the process of identifying a suitable leader from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), preferably from eastern UP, to occupy the top post, according to a party insider. The source further mentioned that the party is also exploring Dalit candidates, but the lack of a prominent figure from the Dalit community has become a limiting factor. Mahendra Nath Pandey, speaking to The Sunday Guardian, clarified that the entire procedure for electing the new state president has been executed by the state unit. However, they are currently awaiting the central Returning Officer to issue an official schedule. Once that happens and Union Minister Piyush Goyal—who has been designated as the election officer to oversee the process in UP—arrives, the election for the state president will be conducted accordingly. The BJP’s organisational elections in Uttar Pradesh, which officially began in November 2024, have been progressing over the last three months. The process started in December with elections held for 162,459 booth-level committees, followed by the selection of 1,918 mandal (block-level) units. In the second week of January, nominations for district president posts were initiated. Following several rounds of internal deliberations based on district-level recommendations, the BJP declared district presidents in 70 out of 98 organisational districts. Due to the by-elections taking place in 11 districts, the party conducted organisational elections in those areas during the latter half of the process. Another insider familiar with the situation informed The Sunday Guardian that among the leading contenders for the state president post are State Minister Dharmpal Singh, Union Minister of State B.L. Verma, and Rajya Sabha MP Baburam Nishad. In addition, prominent names such as Dinesh Sharma—former Deputy Chief Minister and current Rajya Sabha MP from the Brahmin community—and Laxmi Kant Bajpayee, a former state BJP president and current Rajya Sabha MP from Meerut, are also being seriously considered. One of these individuals is likely to be chosen as the new state president. A political analyst closely observing developments in Uttar Pradesh and the BJP’s internal workings told The Sunday Guardian that the party is strongly inclined toward selecting an OBC leader for the top state post to counter the Samajwadi Party (SP) and its PDAcentric strategy. “As the SP is pushing its Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) agenda, the BJP is under pressure to appoint a leader from either the OBC or Dalit communities. However, it is more probable that an OBC candidate will be chosen, as the BJP currently lacks a widely accepted Dalit face in the state. Additionally, OBCs form the largest demographic group in Uttar Pradesh,” the analyst noted. He also emphasised that the current UP BJP chief, Bhupendra Chaudhary, could be reappointed due to his close rapport with the central leadership. The analyst added, “In any case, the party will carefully consider caste and regional dynamics before finalising the new state president, who will be tasked with leading the party to victory in the vital 2027 Assembly elections and the local body polls thereafter.” It is also worth highlighting that all these organisational posts are assigned a fixed tenure of three years from the date of appointment. As per the party’s rules for these internal elections, candidates aspiring to become mandal presidents must be aged between 35 and 45 years. For the district president role, the upper age limit has been capped at 60 years. However, to foster inclusivity, the BJP has allowed a relaxation of one to two years in age eligibility for candidates from reserved categories, including women, Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and OBC.