NEW DELHI: The top leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has expressed displeasure over the delay in organisational elections in the states. The party has now fixed the deadline for state poll officials who have been asked to complete the election of state presidents by January 20.
The party has also sought a progress report of the elections till that date.
The organisational elections started in the BJP from September 18 last year. The election from the lowest to the national president level was to be completed by December 15. But, in the midst of the Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the election process slowed down as the party leaders got busy.
According to the party constitution, the national president is elected only after the completion of the organisation elections in 50 per cent of the states. But the effect of the slow pace of the election process is that till now only the state presidents of Bihar and Rajasthan have been elected.
Except for the states that saw Assembly elections, the state presidents have not been elected in other states, including Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The BJP sources say that as per the tradition, the party wants unanimous elections for state presidents, however, many contenders are coming forward for the posts. Due to this, the organisational polls in the states are getting delayed.
Party sources told IANS that due to lack of organisational polls in 50 per cent of the states, working president J.P. Nadda cannot be appointed as the national president of the party. Amit Shah continues to handle the responsibility of the party president along with the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A BJP leader associated with the organisation polls told IANS: "Reports have been sought from the states till January 20 on the status of the polls. If the elections are held in more than half of the states within this deadline, then working president J.P. Nadda will be the party president for three years. "
Another BJP leader told IANS: "Since the party is completely focused on the Delhi Assembly elections, I think Nadda's name for the post of national president may be announced only after the Delhi election. For the time being, the present arrangement of the national president and the working president may continue."