New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi on Saturday took oath as the eighth chief minister of Delhi. She was administered the oath of office by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena at Raj Niwas in Delhi. As Delhi’s third woman chief minister, Atishi follows in the footsteps of the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj and the Congress’ Sheila Dikshit.
The 43-year-old is also Delhi’s youngest woman chief minister. Dikshit was 60 years old when she assumed office, while Swaraj was 46. She is currently one of only two women chief ministers in the country, alongside West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee.
Five ministers also take oath
Along with Atishi, five ministers also took the oath—Sultanpur Majra MLA Mukesh Ahlawat, a new entrant, as well as ministers Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Imran Hussain.
Officials at the Lieutenant Governor’s office on Friday evening stated that President Droupadi Murmu had appointed Atishi as chief minister of Delhi from the date of her swearing-in, and had also accepted Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation.
First-term MLA from Kalkaji
The first-term MLA from Kalkaji, Atishi was unanimously chosen as the leader of the legislature party following Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation as chief minister of Delhi. Kejriwal’s resignation came after he was released on bail by the Supreme Court on September 15 in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case.
Chief minister Atishi will prove her majority in a special assembly session to be held on September 27 and 28. AAP has 59 MLAs in the 70-member Delhi assembly. She will serve as CM for about five months, as assembly elections for the national capital are most likely to take place in February 2025.
Arvind Kejriwal had previously announced that he would return to the position after receiving a “certificate of honesty” from the people of Delhi in the assembly elections. Atishi held 13 portfolios, including finance, revenue, and PWD in the Kejriwal government. Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, she met with AAP supremo and her predecessor, Arvind Kejriwal.
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