By this afternoon, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh will have a new state president. Union Minister of State for Finance and seven-time MP from Maharajganj, Pankaj Choudhary, is poised to be elected unopposed as the UP BJP President with only the formal announcement pending. The nomination deadline for the state president's position concluded at 3 PM on Saturday, with no other leaders submitting nominations. Thus, Choudhary emerges as the sole candidate for the UP BJP President race.
The formal announcement of Pankaj Choudhary as the UP BJP President will be made at 2 PM at the Lucknow party office by BJP's National General Secretary Vinod Tawde and Union Minister Piyush Goyal. During yesterday's nomination process, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath personally attended and served as Choudhary's proposer. Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were also among his proposers. Additionally, former Union Minister Smriti Irani, UP Government Ministers Suresh Khanna, Swatantra Dev Singh, Surya Pratap Shahi, and Baby Rani Maurya put forward Choudhary's name for the Uttar Pradesh BJP President post.
Source: aajtak
BJP's National General Secretary Vinod Tawde and Union Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, acting as election officials, accepted Pankaj Choudhary's nomination. Speaking about his new role, Choudhary told Aaj Tak, 'The nomination was filed today, and the scrutiny is ongoing. Official announcements will be made by central leaders at 2 PM tomorrow. Future strategies will be discussed post-announcement. I was asked by the top party leadership to file the nomination, which I did. Although the media is reporting my becoming UP BJP President, there is a difference between media narratives and organizational decisions. Whatever responsibilities the party assigns, I'll fulfill them with utmost dedication.'
When asked about Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's campaign to remove Bangladeshi infiltrators from Uttar Pradesh, Pankaj Choudhary said, 'This initiative is crucial. There should be no illegal infiltrators in the country, and we fully support this effort.' On questions regarding consolidating the Kurmi vote bank towards BJP in UP, he remarked, 'Let the responsibilities be assigned first; plans will follow.' Choudhary, a member of the Kurmi community, is part of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Uttar Pradesh, holding significant electoral influence. As UP BJP President, his appointment is seen as a strategic move to appeal to non-Yadav OBC communities ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
