Nadda was first elected to the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly in the election of 1993 from Bilaspur. He was re-elected in 1998.
During his first term, he served as the Leader of his party group in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, from 1994 to 1998. He was the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs in First Dhumal ministry. Nadda lost his seat in the 2003 Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.
Nadda was elected for another term in the 2007 elections. After Prem Kumar Dhumal formed a government, he inducted Nadda into his cabinet, as cabinet minister responsible for Forest, Environment, Science and Technology, from 2008 to 2010.
Rise in national politics
Nadda did not seek re-election to the Legislative Assembly in 2012, and instead got elected to Rajya Sabha, Indian Parliament's upper chamber from Himachal Pradesh
Corruption charges and appointment as Health Minister
Sanjiv Chaturvedi was posted in AIIMS, Delhi as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) from 2012 to 2014. During his tenure, he was investigating some high level corruption in the prime institute. As a result of Chaturvedi's investigations, the CBI registered cases and recommended action against Vineet Chawdhry, a close aide to Nadda. In 2014, Nadda wrote multiple letters to the then Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan, to put the investigations on hold and to remove Chaturvedi from the post of CVO.
In November 2014, during a cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made Nadda, the Minister of Health. The reshuffle move was described by a section of media as surprising and something which raised questions on Modi's stance on corruption. On 25 February 2015, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to Nadda questioning his role in corruption cases at AIIMS.
According to a June 2017 India Today investigative report, Nadda was found to have suppressed an investigation of what the report called a ₹7,000 crore scam. The India Today reports included reports from the CBI and a parliamentary committee.
President of the Bharatiya Janata Party
Nadda was appointed the national working president of the BJP in June 2019. On 20 January 2020, he was elected unanimously as the BJP National President, a role he took from Amit Shah.
In January 2021 in Bardhaman, West Bengal, Nadda started a new scheme Ek Muthi Chaawal Yojana. In September 2022 he got extension to be the party chief till 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
On 4 March 2024, he resigned as member of Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh. He was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat and took oath on 6 April 2024.