BJP starts internal poll process, to elect new president by year-end
The ruling BJP on Tuesday kick-started the much-anticipated internal election process which will culminate by the end of the year, with the election of a new national president after incumbent JP Nadda’s term ends.
The party today appointed its national OBC cell chief K Laxman as the national election officer for the organisational polls which will see half of all state units of the BJP overhauled from the booth to the state level.
Laxman, a senior OBC stalwart from Telangana, will be assisted in the election conduct by BJP MPs Sambit Patra and Naresh Bansal and national vice-president Rekha Verma.
The election process began on a day when the BJP’s national membership figures crossed the 9 crore mark. Speaking to The Tribune today, Laxman said the election officers would soon sit with the national president to chalk out a schedule for the organisational polls of the party.
“We will publish a detailed schedule for elections. The elections can start from November 1 after the ongoing membership drive ends on October 31. The BJP constitution mandates that 50 % state unit elections must be completed before the election of the national president can be held,” said Laxman when asked by what time would the BJP have its new chief.
The BJP constitution lays down a clear process for internal polls. The exercise begins with the commencement of the national membership drive which started on September 2 this year and will end on October 31.
The drive has two parts — simple membership (where common people can become members free of cost), followed by active membership (anyone who has spent three years in the party, made 50 members and paid Rs 100). Active members then vote in the internal BJP elections which witness polling at the following levels of organisation — booth, mandals (a group of Assembly segments), district, state and national.
The BJP is aiming to enrol 20 crore members in the ongoing drive — two crore more than 18 crore which it has.
