Who is Rekha Gupta? The wait ends as BJP names Delhi's new chief minister

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rekha Gupta has been named the new Chief Minister of Delhi.

Gupta, an MLA representing Shalimar Bagh, was chosen as the Leader of the House in the Delhi Assembly at the BJP legislature party meeting. The party has returned to power in Delhi after over 26 years.

Gupta and her Cabinet ministers will take the oath of office at the Ramlila Ground on February 20.

Gupta, 41, won the Shalimar Bagh seat in the recent Delhi Assembly election with a margin of close to 30,000 votes. "Kaam hi Pehchaan" (my work is my identity), is a tagline the BJP leader uses on her website for her campaigns.

Gupta was one of the several Delhi BJP leaders who were seen as frontrunners for the CM's post.

Rekha Gupta is a three-time councillor and former mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). She was also pitted by the BJP as the MCD mayoral candidate against AAP's Shelly Oberoi in 2022.

Gupta is the National Vice President of the BJP Mahila Morcha and has previously served as the general secretary of the Delhi BJP.

She graduated from Daulat Ram College and served as the President of DUSU in the 1996-97 session. She was first elected as a councilor from North Pitampura in 2007.

Delhi has seen a string of women chief ministers, including the 15-year rule of Congress's Sheila Dikshit.

The other women CMs of Delhi were AAP's Atishi and the BJP's Sushma Swaraj.

Choosing Rekha Gupta as the CM also conforms to the BJP's priority for women in electoral politics and policies.

BJP central observers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Om Prakash Dhankar were present at the meeting of the newly-elected MLAs.

BJP is forming a government after 27 years in Delhi. Rekha Gupta will be the fourth woman Chief Minister of Delhi.

The BJP won 48 seats in a historic mandate earlier this month and ousted Aam Aadmi Party from power.

All arrangements have been made for the swearing-in function tomorrow.