Nearly two weeks after the Delhi election results were announced, the national capital is set to have a new Chief Minister. BJP MLA from Shalimar Bagh, Rekha Gupta, will take the oath of office as the new Chief Minister of Delhi on Thursday.
Gupta's name was nominated by the BJP leadership on Wednesday evening, ending days of speculation on who would lead the government as the party returned to power in Delhi after 27 years.
The nomination of a 50-year-old, a first-time MLA, came as a surprise as many senior leaders in Delhi BJP, including Parvesh Verma, who defeated Arvind Kejriwal, were among the CM hopefuls.
Born in Julana, Haryana, Gupta graduated from Delhi University and also has a Law degree from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, in 2022.
Gupta began her political career with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 1992 and is a former president of the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU). She is also the national vice president of BJP Mahila Morcha and a member of the party's national executive.
Gupta is a three-time councillor and former mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). She was elected to the Delhi councillor elections from Uttari Pitampura (Ward 54) in 2007 and 2012. She lost to AAP's Shelly Oberoi in the MCD mayoral election in 2022.
Gupta will be the fourth woman Chief Minister of Delhi after BJP's Sushma Swaraj, Congress's Sheila Dikshit, and AAP's Atishi.
She will also be the only woman Chief Minister of BJP, which is in power in 14 states and two union territories.
The BJP won 48 out of the 70 seats in the recently concluded Delhi Assembly elections, ending the AAP's rule in the national capital since 2013.
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