New Delhi: BJP working president J P Nadda appears set to take charge as the party president next week, succeeding Union Home Minister Amit Shah, sources said on Tuesday.
Nadda may take the helm on January 20 as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources believe that he is likely to be elected unopposed, in line with the convention in the saffron organisation.
While talking to ETV Bharat, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussian said that the party president may be elected immediately after the completion of the term of the current president, Amit Shah.
He said, "There is the process we follow. We are the only political party that take the decisions democratically. The party is electing BJP state heads, once it is done, we will soon start the process of electing BJP president."
According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister and party's incumbent national chief Amit Shah will also be present in the ceremony along with other Union Ministers, leaders, and workers at BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
The elevation of 59-year-old Nadda, a former Union minister with decades of organisational experience, is being seen as a near certainty after he was made the BJP working president in July last year, following Shah's induction into the Union cabinet after the saffron party's massive victory in the Lok Sabha election.
How is party president elected?
Three sets of nomination papers are to be filled to be elected as a president. In the nomination paper, 20 members of the party elect the president.
If there is only one representative, then he/she is elected unanimously. But, if there are multiple representatives, the election within the party takes place.
The BJP national council, the biggest organisational body of the party, is expected to meet after the February 8 Delhi Assembly polls to ratify the election of the new party president.
Polling on 70 Assembly constituencies in Delhi will be held on February 8, this year. Counting of votes will take place on February 11.
In the run-up to the 2019 general election, Nadda was in charge of the BJP's campaign in Uttar Pradesh, politically the most important state where the saffron party convincingly defeated the formidable alliance of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) by winning 62 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats.
Nadda was a cabinet minister in the first Modi government between 2014 and 2019. He has also been a member of the BJP's parliamentary board, the top decision-making body of the party.
Shah had taken over as the party president in 2014 after Narendra Modi led it to power.
