The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Uttar Pradesh state president Bhupendra Chaudhary has replaced nearly 70% of the party’s district and city presidents across the state ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP’s organisational structure spans 98 districts. New presidents have been appointed at the city and district levels in 69 of these districts. The complete list of new appointees was released on Friday.
Following the party’s loss in the Ghosi Assembly by-elections, district president Praveen Gupta has been replaced by Nupur Agrawal. The party has kept in mind caste equations—both local and regional—while appointing the new presidents. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Gorakhpur district did not see any overhauls.
Prior to this reshuffle, State President Bhupendra Chaudhary sent observers to all district office bearers in July. Each observer spent two to three days in the districts preparing their reports. They spoke to local legislators, former officebearers, legislators, and parliamentarians. After submitting the report, the deliberations on the list continued for about a month and a half. Discussions were also held with National President JP Nadda, central and state ministers, National Secretary BL Santosh, and regional presidents. After this, Chaudhary and Organisation General Secretary Dharampal deliberated over the list.
The rejig is part of the party’s election preparations and leaders who participate actively in organisational activities have been chosen. The party is also focused on caste equations, with the most attention given to the OBC category. The list of appointees includes 36 OBC faces, 21 Brahmins, 20 Thakurs, eight Vaishyas, five Kayasthas, three Bhoomihars, and five Dalits. Notably, most leaders being replaced have completed two to three terms in their posts. Others were removed after being given MLA posts.
Additionally, the BJP has also given responsibility to five women for the post of president. Kavita Patel in Prayagraj Gangapar, Shilpi Gupta in Shahjahanpur City, Nupur Agrawal in Mau, and Urwija Dixit in Jalaun have been given the responsibility of the president’s post. Before this, in the 2019 list, only three women were made district presidents: Anita Tripathi in Kaushambi, Madhu Sharma in Mathura district, and Dr Bina Arya Patel in Kanpur South.