Amit Shah may continue as BJP chief till December

Union Home Minister Amit Shah may continue as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president until the party’s organisational elections conclude, according to sources.

The organisational elections are expected to be conducted by December. The schedule for the election will be finalised at an office-bearers’ meeting on June 13, the report suggests.

Shah is expected to meet the party’s national level office-bearers, state unit chiefs and state in-charges, and set in motion the process of organisational polls. The process may culminate with the election of Shah’s successor.

There have been speculation the party could appoint a new national president and a working president. The election will be in the party’s apex decision-making body -- the Parliamentary



Board.

According to the report, there is a possibility of a working president being appointed to oversee the internal elections.

In September 2018, the BJP’s national executive meeting deferred its internal elections until the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were over -- effectively extending Shah’s term. Shah’s term was supposed to end in January before it was extended.

On May 31, Shah took over as the Union Home Minister in the second Narendra Modi-led Cabinet. This sparked speculation that there could be a change of guard in the BJP as per the party’s convention of “one man, one post”.

The party constitution allows an individual to hold the chief’s position for two full three-year terms consecutively. Shah is already serving his second term.