Five months after Bharatiya Janata Party president J.P. Nadda announced a panel to oversee organisational elections and select his successor, the process has entered its final phase. While there is an abundance of candidates, no favourite has yet emerged to be the party's 12th president.

In the recent past, the selection of the BJP president has been relatively swift. But, the delay this time is an indication of the key responsibilities awaiting the new appointee. Beyond leading the world's largest political party, in power in 21 states with offices in 650 districts, the incoming president could even oversee the selection of the next prime ministerial candidate.

Several factors are being considered with regard to the profile of the new president. Should the candidate be from the south—the region where the BJP is eyeing growth—or a dalit—now the only missing piece in representation in top posts? Or should it be a woman as a nod to the constituency? Or an OBC, as the opposition parties are playing the caste census card to counter the BJP's hindutva push? Or would the party continue to give representation to the upper castes?

Party spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal said the party always looks for workers who have good grooming in organisation work, are well connected to all the workers and have ideological commitment.

Interestingly, except the 1998-2004 period—Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure as prime minister—when the party had four presidents, all presidents were in their 50s when they first took charge. During that Vajpayee regime, three of the four party presidents were from the south—Bangaru Laxman (61), K. Jana Krishnamurthi (73) and M. Venkaiah Naidu (63). This was a time when the BJP organisation suffered because of Vajpayee’s focus on governance. Moreover, Laxman, who was also the party’s first dalit president, had to step down in 2001, after a sting operation by a news magazine showed him accepting a bribe.