BJP membership set to touch 16cr mark
The party is still in the process of compiling details from different parts of the country.
With the membership drive coming to an end, the Bharatiya Janata Party is all set to start the process of organisational election from September. The number of the party’s members is likely to touch 16 crore after the latest drive.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, the party’s national vice-president and co-convenor of the membership drive, said: “So far 4 crore new members have been enrolled, while one crore more is likely to be added as we are still in the process of compiling the details from different parts of the country.”
“As of now, we have about 11 crore members. After the latest membership drive, so far 4 crore new members have been enrolled. However, we are yet to compile the details from north-eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, where we are expecting about 1 crore enrolment. This process of compilation should be over by next week. Thus, we hope to have 16 crore members after the process is completed,” Gautam said.
The party this week completed the nationwide membership drive, during which it has enrolled 4 crore new members so far. The drive had started on 6 July with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah launching it from Varanasi and Telagana respectively on the birth anniversary of party ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
The party, said a party official, has put in more filters this time while carrying out the membership drive. All those giving a missed call had to furnish details like name, address, area pin code and phone numbers before they are added as members. Among the states, Uttar Pradesh enrolled over 65 lakh members, West Bengal 36 lakh, Gujarat 34 lakh and Delhi 15 lakh. Most of the new members have joined the party through missed calls, but a large number of them have also used the party’s website and Namo application to enroll.
He said that with the membership drive coming to an end, the party will kick off the exercise for organisational elections from 11 September, with members and heads of the party’s booth committees to be elected by 30 September across the country. This will be followed by elections at the mandal level and then district level between 11-31 October and 11-30 November, respectively, the official added.
“Elections of its state unit presidents and national council members would be held between 1-15 December. The re-constituted national council will then meet to elect the party’s new national president or ratify his appointment,” he added.
As current BJP president Amit Shah is now serving as the Union Home Minister, it is expected that there would be a new face for the national president’s post. The party, this is to be noted, had appointed J.P. Nadda as its working president to take care of the day-to-day responsibility of its organisational affairs till the time a new president is elected. There is possibility that Nadda may succeed Amit Shah.