Atishi is the New Chief Minister of Delhi
The Aam Aadmi Party has unanimously affirmed the appointment of Atishi Marlena Singh as the Eighth Chief Minister of Delhi. She will don the mantle after outgoing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal submits his formal resignation to the Delhi LG, VK Saxena. Post the meeting at 4:30pm on 17 September, Atishi will be the Chief Minister of Delhi.
Atishi's appointment to the post of Chief Minister of Delhi, comes after the announcement made by Arvind Kejriwal on 15 September. Two days after being granted bail by the Supreme Court, Kejriwal announced his stepping down from the post of Chief Minister and called for an early election in Delhi.
About Atishi
First time politician, Atishi (b. 8 June 1981) is MLA from Kalkaji Delhi. She is a graduate of the prestgious St Stephen's College in Delhi. She is also a Rhodes Scholar, under which she completed her studies from Magdalen College in Oxford. Both her parents have been Professors. She connected with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2013, when she participated in the policy formulation for the party, the roots of the AAP movement. From 2015 till 2018 she served as advisor to the Dy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia. In 2018, just before the Elections, she chose to drop her surname and went ahead with her maiden name, Atishi. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, she contested against Gautam Gambhir on the AAP ticket and lost by a margin of 4.77 lakh. In 2020, she defeated BJP's Dharambir Singh in the Delhi Assembly elections and became MLA from Kalkaji in Delhi.
Chief Ministers of Delhi
Brahm Prakash (INC) was the first Chief Minister of Delhi. He held the position from 1952 till 1955. He was succeeded by Gurmukh Nihal Singh (INC) from 1955 till 1956. The Office of the Chief Minister of Delhi was abolished from November 1956 till November 1993, following which BJPs Madan Lal Khurana was elected Chief Minister of Delhi from December 1993 till February 1996. The BJP held this position of power in the name of Sahib Singh Verma (1996-1998) and Sushma Swaraj (52 days). In December 1998, Sheila Dixit of the Congress Party, took the mantly of the Chief Minister of Delhi, a position she held for three terms, making the longest serving person in the history of Delhi to hold the post of Chief Minister. In 2013, Arvind Kejriwal (AAP) took over as Chief Minister of Delhi, holding the position across two terms, till stepping down on 17 September 2024 and making way for party co-worker Atishi to take over as the 8th Chief Minister of Delhi.