Bacchi Singh Rawat elected new Uttarakhand BJP chief

Dehra Dun, Sep 19 : Mr Bacchi Singh Rawat was today elected unopposed the chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Uttarakhand unit.

Along with Mr Rawat, five members of the National Council -- Suresh Rathore(Hardwar), Puran Chandra Sharma (Almora), Narain Singh Rana (Tehri), Anusuiya Prasad Bhatt (Pauri) and Shanti Mehra (Nainital)-- were also elected.

Addressing the media, Mr Rawat, a BJP Lok Sabha MP from Almora district of the state, said he would take forward the responsibilities of the party organisation working on the same lines as the previous chiefs.

Speculating on the possibility of mid-term polls at the centre, he said that it would be his priority to march the party to victory in all five Lok Sabha seats in the state.

On his priorities as the new state party chief, Mr Rawat said listed strengthening the party organisation, popularising the party across the state, making the organisation more effective s some of his priorities.

Mr Rawat said he would ensure that the party organisation took government achievements, developmental programmes to the general public and conveyed the problems of the people to the government.

Announcing the election result, National General Secretary and Central Election Officer Thavar Chandra Gehlot said that except for Mr Rawat, no other candidate had filed the nomination yesterday.

With the declaration of the State Chief, the organisational election of the party had concluded, he said, adding that elections were held in 16 of the 18 organisational districts, and out of 210 mandals elections were held in 190.

Despite the party not following the quota system, two women and two Scheduled Caste (SC) members were elected as the District Presidents. Similarly two women, three members from the SC and one from Other Backward Calsses (OBCs) categories were elected as the Mandal Chiefs, he added.

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