Pratap Sarangi Named Returning Officer For BJP Organisation Polls In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi as returning officer for party’s organisation polls in Odisha.

Sukant Panigarahi, Yatin Mohanty and Sukeshi Oram have been named as co-returning officers.

The names of the panel for ‘Sangathan Parv’ were announced by national returning officer K Laxman on October 18.

The election to the post of booth president, mandal president, district president and different morchas are expected to be held next month.

On October 15, senior BJP leader J P Nadda has set the ball rolling for organisational elections in the party, leading up to the selection of a new party president, by naming Laxman as national returning officer, along with three national co-returning officers, Naresh Bansal, Rekha Verma and Sambit Patra. The team was assigned the responsibility to conduct the elections as per the party’s constitution and also decide election officers in the states.

The organisational elections in the party are due as Nadda has completed two terms as party chief. It is expected to start once the membership drive across the country ends. The elections to the party’s local committees is held first after every three years, followed by polls for the mandal, district, regional and state committees. The president elected at each level then nominate a team of office-bearers. Once elections to half the states are held, an election is held for a full-time national president. The whole process will take about two months.

Sources said that though the BJP constitution lays out the provisions of an electoral college for the selection of its national president, there has never been contest for the post since its formation in 1980. Every time, only one candidate has filed the nomination for the party chief’s post and elected unopposed.