Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in their legislature party meeting on Tuesday decided to name Atishi as their leader which means she will become the new Chief Minister of Delhi.
Addressing the media, Delhi Minister and AAP’s senior leader Gopal Rai said, “In the legislature party meeting today it was unanimously decided that until the next elections, that we want to be held in October-November at the earliest, and people make Arvind Kejriwal the Delhi CM with a thumping majority, Atishi will take responsibilities as the new CM.”
Atishi is expected to take the oath of office at around 4:30 pm today following incumbent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor.
Here’s all you want to know about Atishi:
On June 8, 1981, Atishi was born to professor parents Vijay Singh and Tripta Wahi.
Atishi comes from a Punjabi Rajput family.
Atishi finished her schooling from Delhi's Springdales School.
She graduated in history from St Stephen's College in 2001.
Atishi then went to the Oxford University in 2003 and completed her master's degree in history on a Chevening scholarship.
In 2005, she went to Magdalen College, Oxford as a Rhodes scholar.
Atishi started off her political journey with the AAP in 2013 and was key in the party’s policy formulation.
In 2015, she also took part in the historic Jal Satyagraha in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh and provided support to the AAP leader and activist Alok Agarwal during the protests and legal battle that followed.
Atishi got her middle name "Marlena" from her leftists parents.
"Marlena" is a portmanteau of Marx and Lenin.
From 2015-2018, Atishi served as an advisor to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
In 2019, Atishi was fielded against BJP’s Gautam Gambhir from East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, which she lost by a margin of more than 4.5 lakh votes.
In the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections, Atishi defeated BJP’s Dharambir Singh by at least 11,000 votes from Kalkaji constituency of South Delhi.
Atishi was made Cabinet Minister in Delhi government after the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.