Rekha Gupta joins the ranks of Sushma, Sheila & Atishi: Chronicling Delhi’s tryst with women chief ministers

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rekha Gupta is all set to be sworn in as Delhi's ninth chief minister on February 20. The Shalimar Bagh MLA will be the fourth woman chief minister of Delhi.

Once sworn in, Gupta, 50, will join the ranks of BJP veteran Sushma Swaraj, Congress stalwart Sheila Dikshit and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi – the women leaders who were at the helm of the national capital at different times in the last three decades.

The first Delhi Assembly Election was held in 1993. Before that, Congress leaders Brahm Prakash and Gurmukh Nihal Singh were the chief ministers of the interim Delhi assembly.

Sushma's 52 days to Sheila's 15 years

The BJP won the 1993 assembly elections. Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj were the three chief ministers in the BJP-ruled assembly for five years until 1998. Swaraj, the last of the three, was the CM for 52 days until December 3, 1998.

Sushma replaced Sahib Singh Verma, who had to resign amid backlash over extremely high onion prices at the time, among other reasons. Sahib Singh Verma's son Pravesh Verma defeated Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi seat in the Delhi Assembly Elections in 2025.

In her short stint, Swaraj — Delhi's first woman CM — set up a committee to restore the supply of onions to bring down prices. She reportedly arranged vans to distribute onions across Delhi. 

The Congress won the next three elections – 1998, 2003 and 2008. Sheila Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi for 15 years. Dikshit’s back-to-back three terms remain the longest stint so far, and witnessed a visible transformation of the national capital's landscape, including the expansion of Delhi Metro. 

Arvind Kejriwal's 10 years

The Congress was replaced by AAP in 2013 with Arvind Kejriwal as Chief Minister. The AAP won the next two elections – 2015 and 2020. Arvind Kejriwal remained chief minister for almost ten years, until he resigned in September last year. Kejriwal was replaced by Atishi who continued to be the chief minister for about five months.

Rekha Gupta will replace Atishi as chief minister tomorrow. By making her the Delhi CM, the BJP is perhaps seeking to build on the legacy of women chief minister that Delhi has had for about 16 years since 1993. Gupta's five-year term, if completed, will make it 21 years. 

Rekha will be the only current women CM among all the NDA-ruled states. She will also be the second woman CM across states and UTs in the country, currently. Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal is the only woman CM at present in the country.

The BJP won 48 of the total 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly, up from eight seats it won in the 2020 Delhi Assembly Election. The AAP  won just 22 seats.