Keshav Maurya elected as the new Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Friday April 08,2016

The BJP has picked a new chief for Uttar Pradesh, which votes next year, and will be key to determining who wins the next general election in 2019.

Keshav Maurya(47)a Lok Sabha member from Phoolpur in Allahabad,replaces Laxmikant Bajpai as the president of the BJP in India's most populous state, which will vote early next year.

Uttar Pradesh elects 80 members to the Lok Sabha - the BJP won 72 of those in the general election in 2014. Next year, the BJP hopes to displace Akhilesh Yadav, the 42-year-old chief Minister and his Samajwadi Party.

Keshav Maurya was a full-time pracharak or worker of the right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and for years held charge of the Kanshi region which includes Varanasi, the PM's constituency