Shah elected unopposed as BJP President for a second term

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and virtually the entire top party brass proposed his name during the nomination process in which no other leader joined the fray

BJP President Amit Shah, under whom the membership of the party grew rapidly and it formed governments in several states, was today elected unopposed as its chief for a second term.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and virtually the entire top party brass, including a number of Union ministers and chief ministers, proposed his name during the nomination process in which no other leader joined the fray.

Altogether, 17 nominations were filed proposing 51-year-old Shah's name during the three-hour exercise, Party Vice President Avinash Rai Khanna said as he announced his unopposed election.

The election of Shah was merely a formality after it became clear that Modi and other party bigwigs, besides RSS, which has always had a say in the nomimation for the top party job, preferred his continuance.

This will be the first full three-year term for the Gujarat leader, seen to have full backing of Modi, as he had taken over as the party chief in May 2014 after his predecessor Rajnath Singh joined the goverment.