He was elected as the President of the Student Central Association of Himachal Pradesh University in the year 1983. He became a full-time activist of ABVP in 1985. During the period from 1985 to 1990, he held various positions in ABVP including National Secretary and Organising Secretary of Delhi Metropolitan Council. He also led various student movements through the Rashtriya Sangharsh Morcha during this period.
ln 1990, he joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) as the General Secretary of Himachal Pradesh BJP. ln 1991, he was given the responsibility of National president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and worked under the leadership of the then National President, Shri Murali Manohar Joshi, participating with the youth during the Ekta Yatra. He was re-elected in 1993 and also served under the leadership of Shri Lal Krishna Adwani.
ln 1993, Shri Nadda was elected as an MLA from Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, and became the Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly. He was awarded the best legislator in 1995. He was reelected as an MLA from 1998 to 2003 and served as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs in the Himachal Pradesh State Government. ln 2OO7 , he was elected as an MLA for the third time and became the Minister of Forest, Environment; Science and Technology; Law and Parliamentary affairs.-
ln 2010 Shri Nadda became the National General Secretary of the BJP after resigning from the Council of Ministers in Himachal Pradesh. Working under the then National President Shri Nitin Gadkari, he was in charge of the Central Office and served as Election in-charge for several states.
ln 2012, he was elected a member of the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh. ln 2013, he was re-elected as National General Secretary. ln 2014, he became Secretary of the Central Election Committee and was elected National General Secretary for the third time under the leadership of Shri Amit Shah. He was also appointed as Secretary of the BJP Parliamentary Board, the highest decision-making body of the party.
ln November 2014, Shri Nadda became the Union Minister of Health in the PM Shri Narendra Modi government. He was instrumental in launching the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, providing free health insurance of up to five lakh rupees annually to about 55 crore people. He also improved the healthcare system by ensuring the availability of medicines, opening Jan Aushadhi Kendras, and digitising hospitals.
Shri Nadda was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2018 from Himachal Pradesh. After the BJP's success in the 20L9 Lok Sabha elections, he was appointed the National Working President of the BJP on June17,2OL9, to share responsibilities with National President Amit Shah, who took the role of Union Home Minister. ln 2019, he was made the election in-charge of the State of Uttar Pradesh. On 20 January 2020, he was elected unanimously as the BJP National President.
Under his leadership, the BJP achieved significant success in various elections, including the Kashmir BDC elections and the GHMC elections in Hyderabad, as well as local body elections in several states like Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Ladakh and Karnataka. The party also broke records in Legislative Assembly elections in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur, West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.
During his tenure, the BJP launched a massive membership drive, bringing in over 180 million new members. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Shri Nadda initiated the 'Sewa Hi Sangathan' mission, distributing over 220 million food kits, 50 million ration kits, and 56.6 million face masks across over 900 districts in lndia.
On January 17, 2023, during the National Executive Meeting in New Delhi, Shri Nadda's tenure as National President of the BJP was extended until June 2024. He was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat and took oath on April 6, 2024. On June 11, 2024, Shri J.P. Nadda assumed the role of Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.