Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rekha Gupta was named as the next chief minister of Delhi on Wednesday.

Gupta, the first chief minister of the national capital from the Hindutva party in 26 years, will be sworn-in on Thursday.

After her appointment, she thanked the party leadership for “trusting her with the responsibility”.

“This trust and support of yours has given me new energy and inspiration,” said Gupta in a social media post. “I pledge that I will work with full honesty, integrity and dedication for the welfare, empowerment and overall development of every citizen of Delhi. I am fully committed to this important opportunity to take Delhi to new heights.”

The BJP defeated the Aam Aadmi Party in the polls on February 8. Polling was held on February 5.

While the Hindutva party won in 48 constituencies, the Aam Aadmi Party bagged 21 seats. The halfway mark to gain a majority in the 70-member Assembly is 36 seats.

The BJP won 45.8% of the votes ahead of the AAP’s 43.8% vote share. While the Congress failed to win a seat, its vote share increased to 6.4% from 4.3% five years ago.

Gupta, the former municipal councillor, had defeated Aam Aadmi Party’s Bandana Kumari and Congress’s Parveen Kumar Jain by a margin of 29,595 votes in the Shalimar Bagh constituency.

Shortly after losing the election, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had conceded defeat. The party will not play the role of a constructive Opposition, he said.

While top Aam Aadmi Party leaders Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Saurabh Bharadwaj lost in their constituencies, Atishi retained her Kalkaji seat, defeating the BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri.

Atishi, who served as the chief minister since September, had criticised the BJP on Monday over the delay in formation of the government in the national capital. She said at a press conference that the BJP had “no face” to run the government.

“It’s been 10 days since the election results were announced,” Atishi had said. “People thought that the BJP would declare its chief minister and the Cabinet on February 9 and begin developmental works immediately. But it is now clear that they have no face to run Delhi.”

After Gupta’s appointment was announced on Wednesday, Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai said that the “wait of the people of Delhi has ended today”, ANI reported. “I extend my congratulations to the new Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta,” he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party has been in power in the national capital since 2013, except for a year of president’s rule between 2014 and 2015.

The Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress contested the polls separately even though they are members of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the AAP-Congress alliance lost all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi to the BJP.

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