Organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party

The organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is based upon the Constitution of the BJP. The organisation of the BJP is strictly hierarchical, with the president being the highest authority in the party. The party is considered to be a cadre-based party that draws from the Hindutva-based ideology of its parent organisation, the RSS.

As of 2019, it is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in the national parliament and state assemblies and is the world's largest party in terms of primary membership.

Parent organisation

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is considered as the parent organisation of Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP also draws its membership from the organisation of the Sangh Parivar.

Departments

The BJP on the national level has several publicly known internal departments, such as:

• Good Governance
• Policy Research
• Media
• Media Relations
• Training
• Political Feedback and Response
• National Programs and Meetings
• Documentation and Library
• Sahayog and Disaster Relief Service
• President Office Tours and Programs
• Publicity Literature
• Coordination of Trusts
• Election Management
• Election Commission
• Legal Affairs
• Party Journals and Publications
• IT, Website and Social Media Management (popularly known as the BJP IT Cell)
• Foreign Affairs

The BJP does not publicly release more information about these departments aside from their respective heads.

National level

National President

The organisation of the BJP is strictly hierarchical, with the president being the highest authority in the party. According to the party's constitution, the president is elected by an electoral college consisting of the National Council and the State Councils. Until 2012, the BJP constitution mandated that any qualified member could be national or state president for a single three-year term. This was amended to a maximum of two consecutive terms.

National Executive

The National Executive of Bharatiya Janata Party is the presidium and chief executive body of the Bharatiya Janata Party setting the overall strategic direction of the party and policy development. It is composed of members appointed by the BJP president and can have as many as 120 members.

Below the president is the National Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which contains a variable number of senior leaders from across the country appointed by the President of the party. It is the higher decision making body of the party. It consists of several office holders of the party, including up to seven vice-presidents, up to five general secretaries, one general secretary (organisation), one treasurer and up to seven secretaries who work directly with the president.

The National Executive has the authority to interpret the Articles and Rules of the party constitution. The Executive can also amend, alter and add to the party constitution which is subject to rectification by the following Plenary Session or Special Session of National Council. The National Executive also oversees the internal elections to the President and the National Council and appoints a returning officer for conducting the triennial election of the party.

An identical structure, with a State Executive Committee led by a State President, exists at the state level.

Parliamentary Board

The Parliamentary Board is the governing body of the BJP which takes day-to-day decisions on behalf of the National Executive. The National Executive sets up a Parliamentary Board consisting of Party President and ten other members. The Parliamentary Board supervises the activities of the parliamentary and legislative groups of the Party. It guides and regulates all the organisational units under the National Executive.

Central Election Committee

The Central Election Committee, is also set up by the National Executive, and consist of the 11 members of the Parliamentary Board and 8 other members elected by the National Executive. The role of the CEC is to select candidates for all Legislative and Parliamentary elections throughout India.

National Council

The National Council is the highest policy making body of the party. It is also responsible for rectification of any amendment, alteration and addition to the party constitution by National Executive in the following Plenary Session or Special Session. The National Council along with the State Council also elects the President every three year. The National Council consists of members that are elected by the State Councils, 10% of the parliamentary party, former national Presidents, leaders of state legislative assemblies and state legislative councils, members nominated by the national president, all members of the National Executive, presidents of Morchas and Cells.

State level

There are several State units of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

• Bharatiya Janata Party, Gujarat
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Uttar Pradesh
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Madhya Pradesh
• Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Karnataka
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Telangana
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Uttarakhand
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Goa
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Bihar
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Haryana
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajasthan
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Himachal Pradesh
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Assam
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Tripura
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Andhra Pradesh
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Meghalaya
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Odisha
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Arunachal Pradesh
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Chhattisgarh
• Bharatiya Janata Party, Jharkhand

District Committee

District Committee is an important grassroots level organisation of BJP with one President, Six Vice President and Four General Secretary and Six Secretaries. The District Committee has Other members also.

Mandal

The Mandal Committee of BJP has one president with two general secretary and four secretaries

Wings

International

Overseas Friends of BJP are various voluntary organisations present in other foreign countries that operate under the foreign affairs department of the BJP. These organisations were first launched in the year 1991, and ever since, have promoted the party and governments led by the party. There are more than 25 countries including the USA, the UK, Canada, and Israel, where these volunteer organisations organise events and promotional campaigns on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Membership

Any Indian citizen of the age of 18 years or above can become a member of the Party, provided that he is not a member of any other political party. The term of membership will ordinarily be of 6 years. As of 2019, it is the world's largest political party in terms of primary membership.

State Presidents

States

Union territory

References

Citations

Sources

• Swain, Pratap Chandra (2001). Bharatiya Janata Party: Profile and Performance. India: APH publishing. pp. 71–104. ISBN 978-81-7648-257-8. Retrieved 5 July 2014.