In anticipation of the pivotal Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has named election in-charges and co-in-charges for 23 states and Union territories, including Bihar, where the party hopes to wrest control in alliance with the chief minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United).
BJP President JP Nadda has named Baijayant Panda as the election coordinator for Uttar Pradesh, a state that can send up to 80 legislators to the Lok Sabha. In addition to being the state head of Delhi and Assam, Panda is the national vice-president of the party and a former legislator, according to a report in The Hindustan Times.
Before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the senior leader left the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and joined the BJP. Panda is expected to benefit from his appointment to supervise elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP holds 62 MPs.
In Bihar, where political unrest is raging, there are signs that Nitish Kumar is moving closer to allying with the BJP. The party announced that Vinod Tawde will be the election in-charge and Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash the co-in-charge.
Prakash Javadekar, former Union minister, has been appointed Kerala’s election commissioner. He also oversees political affairs in the state. Vijay Rupani, former chief minister of Gujarat, has been appointed by Nadda to oversee the elections in Punjab and Chandigarh. Party national secretary Narinder Singh will support Rupani in Punjab, BJP’s statement confirmed.
Haryana will be led by former Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb, with Rajya Sabha member Surendra Singh Nagar serving as deputy chief minister. The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and the BJP share a coalition government in the state, and the BJP has declared that it will run for all 10 of the state’s seats alone.
With assistance from Sanjat Tandon, former minister of Uttar Pradesh Shrikant Sharma will be in charge of the Himachal Pradesh election preparations. Tarun Chugh, national general secretary of the BJP, has been designated the poll-in-charge for the UTs of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh. Party leader Ashish Sood will be the in-charge for Goa and assist Chugh in J&K poll preparations.
Laxmikant Bajpai, member of the Rajya Sabha and national vice-president of the BJP, will oversee Jharkhand’s election preparations, while Y Satya Kumar, the national secretary, will be in charge of Andaman and Nicobar.
While Purnesh Modi and Dushyant Patel will be in charge of Daman and Diu, Assam minister Ashok Singhal will be in charge of Arunachal Pradesh. MP Sudhakar Reddy and national general secretary Radha Mohan Das Agarwal have been designated as the in-charge and co-in-charge of Karnataka, respectively.
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