Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. File picture
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday (June 25, 2026) announced new office bearers for its State unit in Uttar Pradesh unit ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
The new team announced by the State BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary, consists of 64 members, including 19 vice-presidents and eight general secretaries, apart from 19 secretaries and six regional presidents.
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In the new office-bearers list, the saffron party focused on non-Yadav Other Backward Classes (OBCs) with over 25 members hailing from social segments which are considered key for the BJP’s success.
Among the prominent names, Neeraj Singh, who is the son of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, has been appointed as vice-president; similarly, Puja Pal, a MLA who won the 2022 Assembly election on the Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket, has also been made vice-president. Suresh Rana, a former State Minister and MLA is appointed as vice-president.
Other prominent names include Yatendra Sharma, a former journalist who has been appointed as secretary, and Geeta Shakya, a leading OBC face of the party, has been given the post of general secretary. Ankur Sharma, who is considered close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah is appointed as secretary in the State unit.
The Upper Castes, considered a core vote block of the party, got roughly 35% representation in the new team, which is lower than the last time.
Leaders hailing from Rajbhar, Bind, Gurjar, Saini community also got representation in the new team, signalling a broader OBC pitch of the BJP. Of the seven general secretaries, three belong to OBC social groups. Rampratap Singh Chauhan hailing from Rajput community, Abhijat Mishra, Brahmin and Sanjay Rai hailing from Bhumihar community are appointed as general secretary. The new team consists of young faces with leaders mostly under the age of 50 years.
“The BJP is a democratic party. Our State team, which is balanced in view of U.P.’s larger geography and social dynamics, will lead the campaign going into the 2027 Assembly polls. Under the new State president’s guidance, the team will make sure BJP gets a thumping majority in the Assembly election, they will work on the idea of nation first, and take the people-centric development policies of double engine government to the common people,” said Rakesh Tripathi, a BJP leader based in Lucknow.
Asad Rizvi, a political analyst based in Lucknow, said the BJP’s focus on OBC is natural in view of the PDA (Pichre, Dalit, Alpashankhak) pitch of the main rival, the Samajwadi Party. “If you look at the new team, the number of non-Yadav OBCs has gone up compared to last time. In this team, there are around 25 leaders from the social segment; in the last team, there were 18. As the main Opposition party, the SP is aiming for a broader mobilization of OBC and Dalits in its favour by pushing the PDA narrative continuously. The BJP gave OBCs and Dalits a larger share in the organizational scheme of things. The upper caste numbers decreased as the BJP is aware that with an aggressive PDA pitch of the SP, the upper caste will naturally support it in large numbers,” said Mr. Rizvi.
The new list comes after meetings in New Delhi and Lucknow with top party leaders discussing the caste and regional balances in the poll year. Senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde held multiple rounds of talks with State leaders in Lucknow.
Published – June 25, 2026 02:41 pm IST
