The newly appointed BJP working president, Nitin Nabin, was elected unopposed as the party’s national president after he was the sole candidate to file nomination papers for the post on Monday.

The nomination process concluded on Monday with 37 sets of papers submitted in support of Nabin. Announcing the development, BJP national returning officer K. Laxman said that following the withdrawal period, only one name — Nitin Nabin — had been proposed for the post of BJP national president.

The BJP president is chosen by an electoral college comprising members of the party’s national and state councils. In the event of a single valid nomination, the candidate is declared elected without the need for voting.

Nabin’s election is scheduled to be formally announced on Tuesday at an event at the party headquarters, to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior party leaders. The party would project the event as a significant generational shift in the BJP leadership. At 45, Nabin will become the youngest national president in the party’s history.

The new president will have a three-year term, during which the BJP will face a series of Assembly polls as well as the next general election in 2029. The 2029 election is expected to throw up the question of Modi’s successor.

Nabin’s elevation to the party perch is being seen by the rank and file as a signal of a sweeping organisational overhaul aimed at promoting a new generation of leaders. His appointment as the BJP’s national working president last month had come as a surprise. A five-time MLA and former minister, Nabin was little known outside Bihar.

His unopposed election and the smooth leadership transition are being viewed as underlining the dominance of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duopoly over government as well as the party.