Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary on Saturday filed his nomination for the post of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttar Pradesh unit president, emerging as the only candidate in the fray.
The formal announcement of the new state president will be made on Sunday by the BJP central election officer and Union Minister Piyush Goyal.
Chaudhary submitted his nomination papers at the BJP’s Lucknow office to former Union minister and state election officer Mahendra Nath Pandey and central election observer Vinod Tawde. The filing took place in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh.
The nomination was proposed by several senior leaders, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, Smriti Irani, Swatantra Dev Singh, Surya Pratap Shahi, Suresh Khanna and former Governor Baby Rani Maurya.
Confirming the development in a post on X, Chaudhary said he had filed his nomination papers for the post of BJP Uttar Pradesh president in Lucknow.
Swatantra Dev Singh said the state president election process had concluded with a single nomination. “The nomination papers are being scrutinised, and the official announcement will be made tomorrow. We were in favour of Pankaj Chaudhary, and the proposal was supported by district teams, MLAs, MLCs, MPs, the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Ministers and other senior leaders,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said the party was confident of registering a bigger victory in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections under the leadership of the new state president. “Just as we won in Bihar, we will win in Uttar Pradesh as well. We are fully confident of securing an even larger mandate in 2027 than in 2017,” he said.
Who is Pankaj Chaudhary
Pankaj Chaudhary is a seven-time Member of Parliament from the Maharajganj Lok Sabha constituency and belongs to the Kurmi community, which falls under the Other Backward Classes category. He is considered a close and trusted leader within the BJP, with strong links to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The Kurmi community holds considerable political influence across Uttar Pradesh and had shown an inclination towards the Samajwadi Party in the 2022 Assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has previously appointed leaders from the Kurmi community as Uttar Pradesh unit president on three occasions, including Vinay Katiyar, Om Prakash Singh and Swatantra Dev Singh.
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