Loading AI tools
8th Chief Minister of Delhi (born 1981) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atishi Marlena Singh (Hindi: [ɑːtɪʃiː mɑːɾleːnɑː sɪŋɡʱ]; born 8 June 1981),[2] (also known as Atishi Singh or Atishi Marlena[3] or mononymously Atishi),[4] is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 8th Chief Minister of Delhi since 21 September 2024, after the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal.[5][6] She belongs to the Aam Aadmi Party and is a member of its Political Affairs Committee, the governing body of the party. Prior to her appointment as the chief minister, she also served as the Minister of Education, P.W.D, Culture and Tourism in the Delhi Government. Previously, she served as advisor to the former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, primarily on education, from July 2015 to 17 April 2018.[7] Atishi is one of only two women currently serving as a chief minister in India, along with Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal.
Atishi Marlena | |
|---|---|
Atishi in 2017 | |
| 8th Chief Minister of Delhi | |
| Assumed office 21 September 2024 | |
| Lieutenant Governor | Vinai Kumar Saxena |
| Preceded by | Arvind Kejriwal |
| Cabinet Minister, Government of Delhi | |
| In office 9 March 2023 – 17 September 2024 | |
| Chief Minister | Arvind Kejriwal |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| Preceded by | Manish Sisodia |
| Member of Delhi Legislative Assembly | |
| Assumed office 12 February 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Avtar Singh |
| Constituency | Kalkaji |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 June 1981 Delhi, India |
| Political party | Aam Aadmi Party |
| Spouse | Pravin Singh[1] |
| Residence | 6, Flagstaff Road, New Delhi |
| Education |
|
| Occupation | Politician |
| Cabinet | Atishi Marlena ministry |
Atishi was born to Delhi University professors Vijay Singh and Tripta Wahi on 8 June 1981. Although she comes from a family of Punjabi Rajput background, just before the 2019 Indian general election, she dropped 'Singh' from her surname to convince the public to focus on her political initiatives rather than her lineage.[8][9][10][11] She was given the middle name Marlena by her parents. According to her party, the name is a portmanteau of Marx and Lenin.[10]
Atishi was raised in Delhi. She did her schooling at Springdales School, New Delhi.[12] She graduated in history from the St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 2001.[13] She then went to the University of Oxford, and in 2003 she completed her master's degree in history on a Chevening scholarship.[14] In 2005, she went to Magdalen College, Oxford as a Rhodes scholar.[6][15]
In January 2013, she became involved in policy formulation for the AAP, which has its roots in that movement.[6]
She was closely involved with the Jal Satyagraha in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh 2015 and provided support to the AAP leader and activist spearheading the campaign Alok Agarwal during the historic protests, as well as during the legal battle that ensued.[16] After the 2020 elections, she was made the AAP's in-charge for its Goa unit.[17]
Atishi was appointed the Lok Sabha in-charge for East Delhi for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.[18] She contested from the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency as an AAP party candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. She lost to BJP's candidate Gautam Gambhir by a margin of 4.77 lakh votes, coming in third.
She contested in the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election from Kalkaji constituency of South Delhi. She defeated Dharambir Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, by 11,422 votes.[19]
She was inducted into the Delhi Government as a Cabinet Minister, along with Saurabh Bharadwaj after the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyender Jain.[20]
On 17 September 2024, she was named as the Chief Minister of Delhi in a meeting of Aam Admi Party MLAs at the residence of Arvind Kejriwal.[21][5] With this, she went on to become the youngest ever CM of Delhi at an age of 43.[22]
Since 2020, she is an elected member of the 7th Delhi Assembly representing Kalkaji Assembly constituency.
Atishi was also spearheading the flagship Mohalla Sabha Project for the Government of NCT of Delhi. The effort to decentralise governance to empower every citizen was a major promise of the AAP before coming to power.[26]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAP | Atishi Marlena | 55,897 | 52.28 | +0.57 | |
| BJP | Dharambir | 44,504 | 41.63 | +8.47 | |
| INC | Shivani Chopra | 4,965 | 4.64 | −8.07 | |
| NOTA | None of the above | 551 | 0.52 | +0.03 | |
| BSP | Jay Prakash Sharma | 551 | 0.44 | −0.02 | |
| Majority | 11,393 | 10.65 | −7.90 | ||
| Turnout | 1,06,910 | 57.51 | −7.34 | ||
| AAP hold | Swing | +0.57 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BJP | Gautam Gambhir | 696,158 | 55.35 | +7.52 | |
| INC | Arvinder Singh Lovely | 3,04,934 | 24.24 | +7.25 | |
| AAP | Atishi Marlena | 2,19,328 | 17.44 | −14.47 | |
| NOTA | None of the Above | 4,920 | 0.39 | −0.03 | |
| Majority | 3,91,222 | 31.11 | +15.19 | ||
| Turnout | 12,58,195 | 61.70 | −3.69 | ||
| BJP hold | Swing | +7.52 | |||
On March 15, 2019, Atishi Marlena and three other party leaders were summoned to court in response to a defamation case filed by the Delhi BJP's vice-president, Rajeev Babbar. The case stemmed from their claim that the BJP had removed 30 lakh names from Delhi's voter list.[27] The court found the allegation prima facie defamatory and invoked Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for defamation. The case revolved around allegations of voter list manipulation and its impact on the BJP's reputation.[28]
BJP leader Praveen Shankar Kapoor filed a defamation suite in 2024 against Marlena and Kejriwal over the allegations of poaching.[29]
After being elected CM, Marlena was set to move into the CM's residence, a bungalow on 6, Flagstaff Road, on 7 October 2024.[30] However, on 9 October, the AAP alleged that the BJP had failed to allot the bungalow to her and that they were trying to "usurp" it, showing documentation that Kejriwal had already vacated the bungalow. The BJP responded by claiming that Kejriwal still had the keys to the bungalow and had failed to transfer them to Marlena himself.[31]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
