Nitin Nabin elected BJP national president unopposed

As expected, Nitin Nabin was elected the BJP national president as he emerged as the sole candidate for the top party post. Nabin who was appointed working president of the party last month, will take over the baton from J P Nadda, who is also the Union Health Minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the proposers of Nabin’s candidature for the post of BJP national president.

BJP’s national returning officer K Laxman made the announcement through a Press statement after a day long activity at the party headquarters in the national Capital.

Announcing Nabin’s candidature Laxman said 37 sets of nomination papers were filed in favour of 45-year-old Nabin as the BJP national president and all nomination papers were found to be valid. Laxman said according to the schedule, the nomination process for the BJP national president was completed between 2 pm and 4 pm here on Monday. “In all, 37 sets of nomination papers were received in favour of Shri Nitin Nabin for the post of national president. On scrutiny, all sets of nomination papers were found to be duly filled out in the required format and were valid.

 “Now, after the period of withdrawal, in my capacity of national returning officer, Sangathan Parv, Bharatiya Janata Party, I hereby announce that only one name, that of Shri Nitin Nabin, has been proposed for the post of national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” Laxman said in a statement.

Several senior BJP leaders including party chief J P Nadda, and Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari were among the proposers.

 Nadda and Rajnath Singh handed over a set of Nabin’s nomination papers to K Laxman, the Returning Officer for the election, in the presence of Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari and senior leaders Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupendra Yadav and Kiren Rijiju.

Later, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and other state leaders submitted another set of nomination papers in support of Nabin, who was appointed as the working president last month. Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Nayab Singh Saini and Pramod Sawant were also present on the occasion.Laxman said the BJP national president’s election process was initiated after the election of 30 state presidents out of 36 states, well above the required number for completing a minimum of 50 per cent of the states.

 He said the notification of the schedule of events was announced and the electoral roll was published on January 16. Of 37 sets of nomination papers, 36 were from states which bore the signatures of 20 leaders in each set of papers. The other set of nomination papers was proposed by members of the BJP Parliamentary Board, including the prime minister, and 37 MPs. The BJP national president is elected by an electoral college comprising representatives from the party’s national council and state councils, with the process overseen by its national returning officer.

 According to the BJP’s constitution, any 20 members of the electoral college of a state can jointly propose the name of a person — who has been an active member for four terms and has 15 years of membership — for the post of the national president. However, such a joint proposal should come from not less than five states where elections have been completed for the national council, it stipulates.