New Delhi: Five-time Bihar MLA Nitin Nabin was on Monday elected unopposed as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s new national president, becoming the youngest person to hold the organisation’s top post as the party prepares for a crucial round of Assembly elections in multiple states.
Nabin, 45, emerged as the sole candidate for the position after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a range of senior BJP leaders submitted nomination papers proposing his name. His election will be formally declared on Tuesday, a development being seen within party circles as a generational shift in leadership.
“I hereby announce that only one name, that of Shri Nitin Nabin, has been proposed for the post of National President of Bharatiya Janata Party,” returning officer K Laxman said in a statement. He added that 37 sets of nomination papers were filed in favour of Nabin and all were found valid after scrutiny. According to Laxman, 36 of the nomination sets were submitted by BJP state units while one set was filed by the BJP Parliamentary Party. The process, he said, followed the party’s organisational exercise known as “Sangathan Parv”.
In a post on X, Laxman said the election process for national president was conducted successfully in his capacity as the national returning officer. Calling it a “transparent and democratic process”, he said it reflected the BJP’s organisational values and internal democratic practices. “With nationwide consensus, Nitin Nabin was the sole nominee. Heartiest congratulations and best wishes,” he wrote in another post.
Laxman said the nomination window was held between 2 pm and 4 pm on Monday. He also said the election procedure was initiated after the BJP elected 30 state presidents out of 36 states, crossing the requirement of completing elections in at least 50 per cent of states. The schedule and electoral roll were announced and published on January 16, 2026.
Nabin will succeed Union Health Minister J P Nadda, who has led the party since 2020 for an extended tenure. Considered a low-profile and unassuming leader, Nabin had resigned from the Bihar cabinet as minister for law and justice, urban development and housing after being appointed BJP working president on December 14.
Several senior leaders were present during the filing and related proceedings, including Nadda, Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and Kiren Rijiju, as well as Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath, Nayab Saini, Pramod Sawant, Pema Khandu and Pushkar Singh Dhami.
With Assembly polls approaching in opposition-ruled West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, along with BJP-ruled Assam, Nabin will face an early test as the party seeks to expand its influence in regions where it has historically had limited organisational reach.
Nabin entered electoral politics in 2006 following the death of his father, Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha, who was also a BJP MLA. He rose through the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and is credited by party leaders with strong organisational skills. He served as the BJP’s co-in charge for the November 2023 Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, where the party defeated then Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government. In the subsequent Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 10 of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh.
Born in Ranchi, now in Jharkhand, Nabin is married to Deepmala Shrivastava and the couple has two children. He has recorded large victory margins, including nearly 60,000 votes in the 2006 bypoll and over 51,000 votes in his latest election earlier this year.
Nabin joins a long line of BJP presidents beginning with Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1980, followed by Lal Krishna Advani in 1986, and later leaders such as Murli Manohar Joshi, Kushabhau Thakre, Bangaru Laxman, Jana Krishnamurthi, Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah.