The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to elect its new president on January 20. According to the official notification issued by the party’s national returning officer and Rajya Sabha MP K Laxman, the electoral rolls of the party will be published at 12 noon on Friday, and the enrollment process for the candidates will start on January 19.
According to the notification, the entire election process will take place at the BJP headquarters on Deendayal Upadhyay Marg in New Delhi. The party has also published the electoral list comprising 5,708 Nirvachak Mandal members.
The nomination process is scheduled for January 19 between 2 pm and 4 pm, followed by the scrutiny of nomination papers from 4 pm to 5 pm. Candidates will have time to withdraw their nominations until 6 pm. The Returning Officer is scheduled to issue a press statement at 6.30 pm the same evening.
Polling, if required, will be held on January 20 between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm, with the official announcement of the new BJP national president to be made the same day.
Party sources say BJP national working president Nitin Nabin is likely to be elected unopposed, as no other senior leader is expected to enter the contest. The party’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, is backing Nabin’s candidature, sources add.
Nitin Nabin to be the next BJP president?
Currently, Nitin Nabin is serving as the party’s working president. He is expected to succeed Union Minister JP Nadda, who assumed office in January 2020. Since his appointment as the National Working President last year, Nitin Nabin has been deeply engaged in the party’s preparations for the upcoming state assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, and Puducherry.
Nitin Nabin is expected to succeed Union Minister JP Nadda as the BJP president. He is likely to formally take charge at the party headquarters on January 20 in the presence of senior leaders, including PM Modi, Shah, Rajnath Singh, and Nadda.
Recently, Nabin visited Tamil Nadu to review party preparations to face Chief Minister MK Stalin-led DMK. Before Tamil Nadu, he was in Assam, where BJP’s Himanta Biswa Sarma is going to face tough competition from Congress.
According to Article 21 of the BJP constitution, any eligible member can hold the post of president for 2 consecutive terms for 3 years each. According to Article 19, the election of the party president happens through the electoral college consisting of Members of the National Council, Members of the sate councils. The election will take place in accordance with the rules framed by the National Executive.
Any twenty members of the electoral college of the party can jointly propose a name for the party president. The person nominated needs to be an active member for four terms, and has 15 years of total membership. If no other nomination is given by the electoral college, the new party president will assume office without voting.
The BJP’s national council consists of members elected by the state council; 10 per cent of Parliament members, to be elected by the party members in Parliament. The elected members cannot be less than 10, and if they are, then all of them will be elected.
Other members also include all former national presidents, all state presidents, leaders of the party in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and leaders of party in State assemblies and councils.
Who is Nitin Nabin?
Five-time MLA from Bihar, Nabin was appointed as BJP’s working president on December 14, 2025. The coveted post is currently held by Nadda, who was appointed as working president in 2019 and national president in January 2020.
While the final name will be announced next week, the new BJP chief will take reins of the party as it prepares for key elections over the next few months in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry. Next year, elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Gujarat.
The 45-year-old, Nabin, is the son of late BJP veteran and former MLA Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha. Within the party, he is regarded as a leader who is ideologically rooted and closely associated with the organisation. He also has a background in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
He represents the Bankipur assembly constituency in Bihar and has served twice as a minister in the Bihar government.
