Bhubaneswar: The election for Odisha BJP president has been postponed in view of the tragic stampede at Saradhabali near Shree Gundicha Temple in Puri, the state election officer Pratap Sarangi informed on Sunday.
“A new date will be fixed after discussions with the central leadership,” he added.
The election process for picking the state president and national council members had begun this morning after a notification was issued at 11 am as per the directive of National Election Officer Dr K Laxman. A provisional voter list was released. After reviewing various objections and complaints, the final voter list was also published. The voters would include organisational district presidents, state council members, and 10% of the party’s MLAs and MPs, Sarangi said.
The nomination papers for the state president position were to be filed on Monday between 11 am and 2 pm, following which those were to be scrutinized between 2 pm and 3 pm and the final list published by 4 pm. The voting was scheduled between 10 am and 12 pm on July 1 and the result was to be declared by 12.30 pm.
Bihar MP Sanjay Jaiswal was appointed as an observer by the Central Election Officer to oversee and manage the three-day organisational election.
While the election in Odisha has been postponed, the BJP will announce the names of the new state presidents for Uttarakhand and Maharashtra as scheduled on July 1. State unit presidents in several more states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, is likely to be elected next week.
These elections are a precursor to the much-anticipated election for the party’s national president.
As per the BJP’s constitution, district presidents are elected after elections are held in half of the party’s mandals (blocks), state presidents are chosen after elections in half of the districts, and the national president is elected only after state presidents have been appointed in at least half of the states. While Organisational elections are required in a total of 37 states and Union Territories, new state presidents have so far been elected in 14 states.
