2019 Lok Sabha Election: Amit Shah's tenure as BJP chief extended, internal polls deferred

New Delhi, Sep 8: The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of national president Amit Shah, putting off its organisational elections, reports said on Saturday.

Shah's tenure was set to end in January, but the BJP in its national executive meeting decided that he should continue until the end of the polls.

Amit Shah replaced Rajnath Singh as the president of the party in August 2014. Shah was elected unopposed as the party president on January 24, 2016, for a second term, this time for a full tenure of three years. His second term will end on January 26, 2019.

Shah is regarded as the prime minister's most trusted lieutenant.

Before he shifted to Delhi in 2011 after becoming general secretary of the party, Amit Shah had been active for three decades in the ABVP and the BJP.

Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Saturday sounded the poll bugle for the Lok Sabha elections 2019, reportedly saying at a crucial party meeting that the BJP would come back to power with an absolute majority.

At the BJP meeting, which was presided by the party chief, leaders also pledged to work to ensure that the party returns to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha election with more seats than it won in 2014.