The Tribune Exclusive: 30L membership target unmet, BJP drops Punjab from party poll; Jakhar stays chief

Struggling with its membership drive in Punjab, the ruling BJP has dropped the state from the party’s organisational election schedule drawn up for 29 other states and UTs, including Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh in the North.

The Tribune has learnt that against the target of 30 lakh members in Punjab, the BJP has so far managed to get only around 6.6 lakh primary membership forms filled. This is an achievement rate of barely 22%.

Big slide in membership, down from 18L to 6L

• Before the BJP’s fresh membership drive began on September 2 last year, the party had nearly 18 lakh members in Punjab. The party conducts a fresh membership drive every five years
• Against the target of 30 lakh members in Punjab, the BJP has so far managed to get only 6.6 lakh primary membership forms filled. This is an achievement rate of barely 22%.

State chief’s election delayed

In Punjab, the state chief’s election cannot be held along with other state units of the BJP because the membership process is yet to conclude

The party has a lot of catching up to do in the state and continues to face multiple challenges in recruiting new members on the back of anxieties around prolonged farmers’ protests among other factors. Earlier, the BJP drew a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll but bagged 18.5% vote share. These gains slipped in the November Assembly bypolls when the BJP candidates lost all four seats they contested, forfeiting deposits in three.

The BJP’s organisational base in Punjab has traditionally remained low. Since 1997, the party contested all elections in a pre-poll pact with the Shiromani Akali Dal, choosing to stay its junior ally. The SAD quit the BJP-led NDA in 2020 over the contentious farm laws and the parties never quite made up. In the 2019 LS poll, the BJP had won two seats in a pre-poll alliance with the SAD.

Before the BJP’s fresh membership drive commenced from September 2 last year (BJP conducts a fresh party membership drive every five years), the party had nearly 18 lakh members in Punjab.

Top BJP sources today acknowledged that the party’s current membership drive in Punjab was going slow, and was the reason why the internal election process in the state could not be commenced. Some party leaders attribute the delay to Assembly bypolls and municipal elections in Punjab.

Accordingly, the party has not appointed a returning officer for the election of state president and national council members in Punjab, which means incumbent Sunil Jakhar will continue for now unless someone else is nominated in his place. State chiefs and national council members, once elected in 29 states and UTs where the BJP has named returning officers, will form the electoral college for the election of the party’s national president.

In Punjab, the state chief’s election cannot be held along with other state units of the BJP because the membership process is yet to conclude.

Apart from Punjab, the only other states where returning officers have not been appointed by the BJP are Maharashtra, Jharkhand (where saffron membership drive was delayed due to Assembly elections); Delhi (where election process has begun) and Manipur (where ethnic strife continues to stall the process).

As per the BJP constitution, state president’s election can only happen once the state concerned has attained its primary membership targets and successfully completed the active membership drive. Anyone can become a primary member of the BJP by filling an online form on party website. Once primary members are enrolled, an active membership drive starts. An active BJP member is someone who has worked in the party for three years, has enrolled 50 primary members and paid Rs 100 as the membership fee.

Only active members of the BJP can contest internal party elections and choose the electoral college which votes in the election of BJP national chief. Also, only active members can contest for elections at the BJP booth, mandal, district and state levels. “In Punjab the process of election at the lowest unit — the booth — is yet to commence because the primary membership drive has not concluded. We are yet to reach our primary membership targets,” a BJP source told The Tribune.