Rekha Gupta has been sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Delhi. She took the oath today, Thursday, at a grand ceremony held at the historic Ramlila Maidan after 12 PM. With this, she becomes the ninth Chief Minister of the state and the fourth woman to hold this prestigious position.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, and several top leaders of the NDA alliance.
Rekha Gupta is a politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is known for her close association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). She has risen through the grassroots level of the BJP. In the recent Delhi Assembly elections, she was elected as an MLA from the Shalimar Bagh constituency. After 27 years, the BJP has returned to power in Delhi and has chosen her as the Chief Minister.
She is the fourth woman Chief Minister of Delhi and the second from the BJP. Before her, Sushma Swaraj (BJP), Sheila Dikshit (Congress), and Atishi (Aam Aadmi Party) served as Delhi’s Chief Ministers.
Previously, Rekha Gupta contested from the Shalimar Bagh seat in the 2015 and 2020 Delhi Assembly elections but was defeated both times by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Bandana Kumari. In 2015, she lost by 10,978 votes, and in 2020, by 3,440 votes.
This time, BJP fielded her again from the same constituency, where her main opponent was once again Bandana Kumari from AAP. However, this time, Rekha secured victory with a margin of 29,595 votes. She became the Chief Minister of Delhi in her very first term as an MLA.
Notably, the BJP has returned to power in Delhi after 27 years, winning 48 out of 70 Assembly seats. Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which ruled Delhi for 10 years, suffered a significant defeat, securing only 22 seats. Even Kejriwal himself lost his New Delhi seat to BJP candidate Pravesh Verma.