Political circles in Madhya Pradesh are rife with speculation, with many asking if Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit chief Vishnu Dutt Sharma will get another term as the provincial chief, even as party functionaries refuse to divulge details, saying the mystery will be unravelled this December.

Incumbent state president of the BJP, Vishnudutt Sharma, has almost completed five years in office, while according to BJP constitution, the tenure of a state chief is only three years.

Though the party has provided two-year extensions in certain circumstances.

As per the party constitution, a leader can be state president for two consecutive terms, and there are strong possibilities of Sharma being reained after he goes through the election process.

However, the fact is that since 2006, the state unit presidents have either been Brahmins or Thakurs.

In 2006, the trend started when Satyanarayan Jatia took over as state president for nine months, succeeding Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Since then, those who have remained in this top party position in Madhya Pradesh are Narendra Singh Tomar (two terms), Prabhat Jha, Nandkumar Singh Chouhan, and Rakesh Singh.

Political observers feel that when state assembly or Lok Sabha elections are not near, the party might decide to elect a Dalit leader for the post.

Sources claimed that as per the constitution, the state president is elected through an election process, but there have also been instances when the BJP Central Command has replaced old faces with new ones, based on prevailing political circumstances.

The process for the organizational election of the Bharatiya Janata Party has commenced, and the entire process is scheduled for completion by the end of December.

At present, the process of making active members has started; it shall continue until November 5, and then booth-level committees will be selected.

Party sources said that a meeting of the party is scheduled in New Delhi on November 11 to announce the next phase of the election calendar.

The poll schedule for party positions includes elections for mandal presidents and district presidents, and then the state president will be elected.

Spokesperson of the state unit of the BJP, Rajneesh Agrawal, said that for mandal presidents, more than 50 per cent of the booth presidents need to be elected, and similarly, for district presidents, more than 50 per cent of mandal presidents need to be elected.