BHUBANESWAR: With the membership drive over, BJP has set the ball rolling for organisational polls to elect a new State unit president by the year-end when the tenure of the incumbent president Basanta Panda will get over. A meeting of the senior party leaders, including two Union Ministers from the State, Dharmendra Pradhan and Pratap Sarangi, has been convened on September 5 to chalk out plans for the organisational elections with the appointment of returning officers for 36 organisational districts.
The membership campaign, which was launched here on July 6 and completed on August 20, is set to increase the BJP’s existing membership by more than 10 lakh, said BJP spokesperson Dilip Mohanty.
Data of the new members enrolled during the August drive are being consolidated and the exact number will be out within a day or two.
Apart from taking stock of the membership drive at the party meeting, which will be attended by national BJP general secretary in-charge of Odisha Arun Singh, MPs, MLAs, district presidents and observers, a decision on a suitable candidate for the top organisational post will be taken.“Election of the party president in the BJP is done in the most democratic manner. It has become a tradition in the party to elect the president through consensus rather than going for the actual election. The same thing may happen this time,” said Mohanty.
The three-year term of Panda, who was elected on January 14, 2016, ended earlier this year.
However, the organisational election was put on hold by the BJP Parliamentary Board in view of the 2019 general elections.Election of the national president of the BJP will be possible only if more than 50 per cent states become eligible for holding elections. In the same yardstick, election of state president will be possible if more than half of the organisational districts have elected committees.
He said the party targeted to register at least 10 lakh new members, as the BJP’s constitution seeks 20 per cent increase in membership during every drive. However, the number of new members may cross the target as a large number of people have been enrolled in off-line mode.“As per the party’s constitution, we have to enrol 7.2 lakh new members which is 20 per cent of members registered last time to be eligible for holding organisational election for the State unit. We have targeted to add 10 lakh new members before the election,” said Mohanty.
Membership drive
● Membership campaign completed on August 20
● Target to increase existing membership by more than 10 lakh
● Data of the new members being consolidated
● Election of national BJP president will be possible only if more than 50 pc states become eligible for holding elections
● State president election will be possible only if more than half of the organisational districts have elected committees