BJP likely to announce its new national president in February

New Delhi: A new BJP national president is expected to take over in February next year, capping a months-long process of organisational elections, in which the party is likely to have new chiefs in many states.

A senior party leader said state presidents who were recently appointed, as in Bihar, Rajasthan and Karnataka, are unlikely to be replaced, while the exercise to elect new party chiefs in other states will start from January 15, when 'Uttarayan', considered an auspicious Hindu period, begins.

He indicated that the new state chiefs will be elected by consensus, as has been the convention in the party.

As per the party's constitution, organisational elections should be completed in more than half of the total number of states before a national president is elected. A meeting of the BJP national council is expected in the latter half of February where either a new national president will be elected or his appointment ratified if he or she has already been named by its parliamentary board.