New Delhi: In a historic shift for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), veteran leaders and founding members Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will not feature in the voter list for the upcoming national president election, marking a first since the party’s inception in 1980.
The BJP has announced its schedule for the national president polls, involving 5,708 electors from across the country. Voting, if required, is set for January 20. Traditionally, the party elects its chief through consensus, and this time, Nitin Nabin is widely expected to be chosen unopposed in what is considered a formality.
However, the absence of Advani and Joshi from the electoral college has sparked intrigue in political circles. According to the BJP constitution, the national president’s election follows a structured organisational process, from booth-level polls up to state units. The electoral college comprises members of the national and state councils. Currently, organisational elections are ongoing in several states, with over 50 per cent of them completed, allowing the national poll to proceed. Yet, polls remain pending in Karnataka, Haryana, Tripura and Delhi.
Advani, a former Gandhinagar MP, and Joshi, an ex-Kanpur MP, were previously elected to the national council from Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, and later from Delhi after retiring from Parliament. This year, incomplete elections in Delhi have prevented their inclusion in the council, thus barring them from the voter list.
Both leaders now serve in the party’s Margdarshak Mandal, offering guidance but without formal electoral roles. This development is being viewed as a significant evolution in the BJP’s organisational framework, signalling a generational transition.