New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finally chose its chief minister for Delhi on Wednesday evening. Eleven days after the results of 2025 Assembly polls were declared, Rekha Gupta was named to head the government.
She will take oath as Delhi’s ninth chief minister at a grand ceremony at Ramlila Maidan here on February 20.
Rekha is the fourth female CM of Delhi, following in the footsteps of Sushma Swaraj (BJP), Sheila Dikshit (Congress) and Atishi (AAP).
Sushma was in office for 52 days in 1998, Sheila was a three-term CM (15 years & 25 days, Dec 2003 to Feb 2014) and Atishi for 152 days (Sept 2024 to Feb 2025).
Senior party leader Rekha had emerged as a strong contender for the coveted chair though initial speculation pointed towards New Delhi MLA Parvesh Kumar, who defeated Arvind Kejriwal in the Assembly polls earlier this month.
National secretary Om Prakash Dhankar and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were appointed as central observers to oversee the CM’s selection process at the meeting of legislators on Wednesday evening.
Rekha has had a long political career, starting with student leadership. Currently serving as the general secretary of Delhi BJP, the 50-year-old Rekha has previously been the national vice-president of BJP’s Mahila Morcha.
Rekha won the Shalimar Bagh (North-West) seat in the recent election by a margin of 68,200 votes.
