Bihar's Nitin Nabin likely to take over as youngest BJP president

45-year-old appointed national working president by Party's parliamentary board

Forty five-year old Bihar minister Nitin Nabin is poised to become the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) youngest national chief, after he was appointed national working president on Sunday by the party’s highest decision-making body, the parliamentary board. Nabin was born barely five months after the BJP was founded on April 6, 1980, and his eventual elevation as the party’s national president would signal an intent to prepare the next generation of leadership.

 

The BJP announced Nabin's appointment on the eve of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s four-day, three-nation foreign visit, and a day before the start of a month-long period traditionally considered inauspicious in some Hindu customs for initiating new projects.

 

BJP sources said the formal process to elect current party president J P Nadda’s successor will begin in mid-January, following the festival of Makar Sankranti, with Nabin expected to be the frontrunner to file his nomination. Historically, BJP national presidents have been elected unopposed and unanimously. Once the election process is concluded, the BJP’s National Council is scheduled to meet in April 2026 to ratify his election. In 2019, after Amit Shah became Union Home Minister, the parliamentary board had appointed Nadda initially as national working president; the party later completed the election process, resulting in his unanimous election as national president.

 

Nabin is serving his fifth term as a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) in Bihar and holds ministerial portfolios covering road construction, urban affairs and housing. The BJP constitution enforces a ‘one person, one post’ rule, which would require Nabin to resign his ministerial post upon election as party national president.

 

On Sunday evening, after BJP national general secretary Arun Singh formally announced Nabin’s appointment, senior party leaders, including Modi and Shah, congratulated him on social media. Earlier in the day, the BJP had announced Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary as the party’s Uttar Pradesh state unit chief.

 

Nabin’s appointment underscores the BJP’s aim to consolidate its gains in Bihar, where it emerged for the first time as the single largest party in the recently concluded Assembly elections. He brings extensive organisational experience and has managed key ministerial portfolios in the state. Nabin belongs to the Kayastha community, a key support base for the BJP in Bihar.

 

Educated at Colonel Satsangi’s Kiran Memorial School in Delhi, Nabin passed Class XII in 1998. He contested his first election in 2006, in a bypoll triggered by the sudden death of his father, a senior BJP leader and Patna West MLA. Nabin won by over 60,000 votes and has since been elected four consecutive times (2010, 2015, 2020 and 2025) from the seat, renamed Bankipur in 2008.

 

Nadda, 65, was appointed BJP president in January 2020 and has completed his full term, receiving extensions to lead the party through the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Congratulating Nabin, the PM described him as a “hardworking karyakarta”. “He is a young and industrious leader with rich organisational experience and an impressive record as MLA and minister in Bihar for multiple terms. He has diligently worked to fulfil people's aspirations and is known for his humble nature and grounded style. I am confident that his energy and dedication will strengthen our party in the times to come. Congratulations to him on becoming the BJP National Working President,” Modi said on X.

 

Nabin has also been extensively involved with the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the party’s youth wing, and served as BJP in-charge for the Sikkim Assembly elections in 2019 and for Chhattisgarh. Party workers from Chhattisgarh assisted Nabin during his recent Bihar campaign, where he was also responsible for organising the Prime Minister’s roadshow in Patna. He secured the Bankipur seat by a margin of 51,936 votes.

 

He attended the US government’s International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) in 2013. Born in Ranchi on May 23, 1980, Nabin is married with two children. According to his election affidavit, he has assets worth ₹3.06 crore and liabilities of ₹56 lakh. Five criminal cases are pending against him.