Rajeev Bindal to be elected Himachal BJP chief unopposed on Saturday

A day after his resignation as state Assembly speaker, Rajeev Bindal filed his nomination papers for the post of state BJP chief on Friday, party's state vice-president Ram Swaroop Sharma said. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday had said the BJP national leadership has decided to appoint Bindal as the president of the state party unit.

Bindal, a former Himachal Pradesh minister, will be formally declared as state BJP chief on Saturday as no other nomination has been filed for the post, Sharma said. Besides BJP MLAs Rakesh Jamwal, Sukhram Chaudhary, Rita Dhiman and Rajinder Garg filed their nomination papers for membership in the BJP national Council from Mandi, Shimla, Kangra and Hamirpur parliamentary areas respectively, the BJP state vice-president said.

Sharma said the process of filing nominations for the president's post started on January 17 and papers could be filed within a 24-hour period. Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and BJP's national secretary Sunil Deodhar are observers for the election, he added.