With the Assam hat trick and West Bengal debut victory done, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shifted its focus to Uttar Pradesh for the 2027 assembly elections, eyeing a historic third term.
After facing a huge setback in Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s most politically significant states, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has announced new office bearers for the party’s state Pradesh unit, replacing all six regional presidents.
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State BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary on Thursday announced a list of 64 members, dropping more than half of the leaders from the previous team.
According to the list, which was issued after several rounds of consultations between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, senior state leaders and the central leadership, the party appointed 19 vice presidents and eight general secretaries and chose nineteen state ministers as office bearers. The party also accommodated youngsters and women and maintained a regional balance.
He also kept social equations in check, a move which is seen as a counter to Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘PDA’ (Pichhda, Dalit, and Alpsankhyak – Backward, Dalit, and Minority) formula. The PDA strategy is said to be behind the Samajwadi Party’s biggest-ever victory in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, getting the party 37 of the state’s 80 seats.
Priority To OBC Community
Four out of the six regional presidents — Nawab Singh Nagar (for west Uttar Pradesh), Puran Lal Lodhi (for Braj), Ramkishor Sahu (for Kanpur), and Ashok Chaurasia (for Kashi) — belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, who are estimated to constitute around 55 per cent of Uttar Pradesh’s population.
(From left) Nawab Singh Nagar, Puran Lal Lodhi, Ramkishor Sahu and Ashok Chaurasia
Of the 64 office-bearers, the largest group belongs to the OBC category, representing about 45 per cent of the team. Of the 29 OBC members, three each are from the Jat and Kurmi communities, and two each from the Yadav, Pal, Gurjar, Shakya, and Lodhi communities.
13 other OBC sub-castes have also been given representation with one post each for Kushwaha, Kori, Goswami, Chaurasia, Lonia-Chauhan, Teli, Nishad, Bind, Maurya, Rajbhar, Vishwakarma, Jaiswal, and Saini.
Just like the last four elections, the BJP is again trying to bring non-Yadav OBCs into its fold, including 27 leaders from non-Yadav backward and extremely backward classes in its new team and accommodating only two Yadavs. In the previous Lok Sabha elections, this vote bank had drifted away from the BJP and shifted towards the Samajwadi Party.
Who Are The New Members
Geeta Shakya, Shankar Lodhi, Dilip Patel, and Rajesh Chaudhary have been appointed General Secretaries, representing the Shakya, Lodhi, Kurmi, and Jat communities.
Pooja Pal and Dhruv Vijay Shakya have also been included to ensure representation for non-Yadav OBCs.
The BJP has also placed special emphasis on western Uttar Pradesh, incorporating Jat leaders from the region into the team.
Mohit Beniwal, an IIT Delhi alumnus and former regional president of the western region, has been reappointed as a vice president, reinforcing his image as a prominent young Jat leader.
Mohit Beniwal
Devendra Singh, a prominent Jat figure from Meerut, has also been chosen as the state president of the Kisan Morcha.
The BJP also handed over the command of the Western region to Nawab Singh Nagar, sending a strong political signal to the Gurjar community.
Focus On Scheduled Communities
Within the Scheduled Castes (SC) category, the BJP allocated the highest number of posts — four — to the Pasi community, while the Valmiki and Jatav communities received one post each.
With the aim of deepening ties with the Dalit community, seven members from SC (about 11 per cent) and one member from Scheduled Tribes (2 per cent) have been included in the team.
An opportunity has also been extended to the Gond community under the ST category.
A Message To Brahmins
The BJP, which has recently faced criticism from Brahmins, has given them a significant representation in the new team. The party has included ten Brahmins, constituting 15 per cent of the total team – the largest share for any single community.
28 individuals from the General category have also been included, with Brahmins accounting for the largest share within this group at about 37 per cent, followed by Kshatriyas (seven members).
Abhijat Mishra has been appointed General Secretary, while Brij Bahadur, Archana Mishra, Shankar Giri, Ankur Sharma, Yatendra Sharma, and Rajni Pandey have also been given key roles. Awdhesh Dwivedi has been appointed as the regional president for the Awadh region.
Suresh Rana, a prominent Kshatriya figure from the western region, has been rewarded with the post of vice president for his effective handling of responsibilities during the Haryana and Bengal assembly elections.
Neeraj Singh, the younger son of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, has also secured a place in the team.
The team also includes four Bhumihars, two Vaishyas, and one representative each from the Kayastha and Tyagi communities.
Regional Balance
The Awadh region has secured the largest share in the new team, with 16 office-bearers (25 per cent) selected from the area. This is followed by the Kashi region — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency — which has 13 representatives (20 per cent).
The BJP has also made rooms from the other parts of the state, including 10 members (16 per cent) from Western UP, nine (14 per cent) from the Braj region, and eight each (13 per cent) from the Kanpur and Gorakhpur regions.
Key Roles For Youngsters, Women
Among the 64 office-bearers, 29 hold postgraduate degrees, 25 are graduates, and four hold PhDs. Individuals with professional degrees such as BTech, LLB, and MBA have also been entrusted with responsibilities within the organisation.
Special attention has also been given to age demographics as part of the strategy to empower the youth. The team comprises a significant number of leaders who are aged below 50.
It has two leaders under 35, eleven under 40, sixteen under 45, and twenty-seven under 50.
Ensuring the participation of women, who constitute half the population, a total of twelve women office-bearers have been appointed to key positions. These include four female vice presidents, one female general secretary, and seven women entrusted with the role of secretary.
