Atishi or Gopal Rai? With top guns defeated, who will be Delhi’s new LoP?

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will have to step into the role of opposition in the Delhi assembly for the first time after it lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in recently held polls. The BJP bagged 48 seats, reducing the AAP to 22 seats.

With its top leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, losing their seats, the party needs to pick a Leader of Opposition (LoP). Even the next chief minister is all set to take oath on February 20.

Among the senior leaders who won the elections are former CM Atishi and ministers Gopal Rai, Mukesh Ahlawat, and Imran Hussain, who offered a consolation for the party.

Atishi emerged victorious in Kalkaji, defeating BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri by a margin of 3,521 votes. In Babarpur, Rai retained his seat with a margin of 18,994 votes over BJP's Anil Kumar Vashisht. The environment minister in the outgoing government, Rai is a three-time MLA from the constituency. He managed to hold on despite the AAP's overall poor performance.

Atishi or Gopal Rai? Who will be Delhi's LoP?

Mukesh Ahlawat secured victory in Sultanpur Majra, defeating BJP's Karam Singh Karma by 17,126 votes. Ahlawat, who served as a minister in the previous AAP government, maintained his stronghold in the reserved constituency, one of the few where the Kejriwal-led party performed well.

Hussain, the food and civil supplies minister, won from Ballimaran with the highest margin among the AAP's prominent faces, defeating BJP's Kamal Bagri by 29,823 votes. Hussain's victory provided one of the few bright spots for the AAP in the Old Delhi region.

While no announcement has been made yet, Atishi and Rai are among the top contenders for the LoP's role.

In a high-stakes battle in the New Delhi constituency, BJP's Parvesh Verma defeated Kejriwal by 4,089 votes, securing 30,088 votes against the AAP supremo's 25,999. In Jangpura, Sisodia lost to BJP's Tarvinder Singh Marwah by just 675 votes, while minister Saurabh Bharadwaj was defeated by BJP's Shikha Roy in Greater Kailash by 3,188 votes.

Who will be Delhi CM?

The BJP is set to reclaim power in Delhi after more than 27 years. The party will announce the name of the next chief minister of Delhi later today after the meeting of its MLAs. The swearing-in will be held on Thursday at the iconic Ramlila Maidan.

The AAP won the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections in Delhi. BJP leader Vijender Gupta has been the LoP twice while Ramvir Singh Bidhuri was once. Bidhuri is now the BJP MP from South Delhi. Gupta's name has featured among CM hopefuls.