Dehradun: Uttarakhand BJP legislative party likely to meet today to elect new leader of the party following the resignation of the Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat.

Following a meeting with party central leadership, Mr. Rawat has resigned late night on Friday. After failing to elect himself to the Legislative Assembly within six months of taking oath as the CM, Mr. Rawat submitted his resignation to the Governor. Uttarakhand Assembly elections will be held next year; thus, the Elections commission is unlikely to hold by-elections for the vacant seat in the Assembly; taking Rawat's resignation was unavoidable to the party central leadership. 

Rawat, who is Loksabha member, met BJP National President J.P. Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah before sending his resignation to the Rajbhavan on Friday night. Mr. Rawat was in the helm of affairs for less than four months, he replaces Trivendra Singh Rawat. 

The resignation of Rawat has paved the way to elect the new legislative party leader of the party. There are four frontrunners for the CM post. Dhan Singh Rawat, who belongs to the Thakur community, currently Minister of State for Higher Studies in Tirath Singh Rawat. Caste equations play an important role in choosing a new legislative party leader. Both Thakurs and Brahmins are dominant communities in the state. 

Another prominent contender for CM post is Anil Baluni, a close confidant of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The journalist turned politician is now the Rajya Sabha member and also party national spokesperson. 

Lok Sabha MP Ajay Bhatt name also being rounds for CM post. He defeated former chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat from Nainital- Udhamsingh Nagar constituency. 

 Another leader Pokhriyal, Union Minister for Education and hails from Dehradun district and Lok Sabha member of Haridwar constituency. He is also one of the contenders for the post.