The Hindu : Venkaiah Naidu elected BJP chief again

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

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National

Venkaiah Naidu elected BJP chief again

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. The Bharatiya Janata Party president, Venkaiah Naidu, has been elected unopposed to the same post. His new three-year tenure will begin on February 6 when his election will be formally announced at the party's national council session here.

Today was the day of scrutiny of nomination papers for the party president's post. With 14 sets of nomination papers received — all in favour of Mr. Naidu — the returning officer for the elections, O.P. Kohli, said that Mr. Naidu would be formally declared elected unopposed on February 6 for a term ending on February 6, 2007.

Mr. Naidu had filed his nomination papers on January 23 — proposed by the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and supported by the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani. According to the party constitution, at least five State units must support a candidate for the top party post. In Mr. Naidu's case, 14 State units proposed his name.

The party's organisational elections are now complete although the process is still going on in some States, including those where Assembly elections were held two months ago. This time not a single election was contested at any level. All the party positions were filled through "consensus."

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