BJP elects Nitin Gadkari as its new chief - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Nitin Gadkari was elected as the Bharatiya Janata Party's President for a three-year term in the national capital on Tuesday. Gadkari, former Maharashtra BJP unit chief, succeeded Rajnath Singh at the end of latter's tenure. He was nominated as the new BJP chief by the party's parliamentary board in December last year. Gadkari's election to the post of BJP chief would be ratified at the national executive and national council convention to be held in Indore later this month. On Tuesday, General Secretary of the party and the Returning Officer for the elections Thawar Chand Gehlot declared this after the conclusion of the elections in the national capital. "I make announcement of the result. Nitin Gadkari has been elected as the national President of the Bharatiya Janata Party and I invite Nitin Gadkari to come and accept the certificate of his election," Gehlot said. Gadkari's nomination came in the wake of BJP's defeat in the last general polls. The defeat in the 2009 May elections sparked months of infighting and a leadership struggle in the BJP.