Shivraj presses for Tomar as party chief

PANCHAYAT and Rural welfare minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday appeared to be emerging as the favourite to take the BJP reins in the State.

PANCHAYAT and Rural welfare minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday appeared to be emerging as the favourite to take the BJP reins in the State.

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The elections to the post of State party chief and the national councilors are scheduled for November 21. Tomar, a confidante of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan emerged the front-runner after Chouhan is understood to have prevailed over the Party high command to nominate someone with whom he shared a good equation for effective coordination between the organisation and the government.

If Chouhan’s clout in the Party during the Vidisha by-poll were any indication then Tomar’s election as State unit chief is almost a certainty. Chouhan had convinced party leadership over the candidature of Rampal Singh in Vidisha parliamentary seat, though a section, including senior leaders favoured Varun Gandhi.

However, if the caste factor- a major factor for the next assembly elections- dominated the minds of the party think tank, then the baton could be passed on to Thavarchand Gehlot. But, there was remote possibility of the State unit chief Satyanarayan Jatia getting nod for a second term.

The central party observer Omprakash Mathur would arrive in the State capital on November 20 to supervise the elections. The returning officer Sartaj Singh would conduct the process at the State party office, party’s media in charge Vijesh Lunawat said on Thursday. 

The nominations would be filed between 11 am to 3 pm on November 20, scrutiny will be held from 3 pm to 4 pm the same day and the nominations can be withdrawn between 4 pm to 6 pm. The polling would be held, if needed, on November 21 between 11 am to 2 pm and counting would be done after 2 pm.

For the State BJP president, the delegates include, one from each of the 230 assembly constituencies elected during the organisational election; 10 per cent MLAs (17 MLAs) and 10 per cent MPs (3 MPs).