Atishi becomes Delhi’s third woman chief minister, 17th in India’s history

Atishi takes oath as new Delhi CM, five ministers also sworn in

NEW DELHI — AAP leader Atishi took oath on Saturday as Delhi’s third woman chief minister and became the youngest of all three to hold the top office in the national capital. She also became the 17th woman to hold the post of chief minister in independent India.

The senior AAP leader, however, will have a brief tenure in office as assembly elections in the national capital are due in February.

A first-time legislator, Atishi is a key face of the party and managed AAP’s operations during Arvind Kejriwal’s time in Tihar jail in connection with the excise policy case.

VIDEO | AAP leader Atishi (@AtishiAAP) takes oath as Delhi CM at LG House. pic.twitter.com/Y8Ty8gLquO

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 21, 2024

The Kalkaji MLA’s name was proposed by Kejriwal, who tendered his resignation as chief minister, for the top post.

As Delhi’s third woman chief minister, Atishi follows in the footsteps of the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj and the Congress’ Sheila Dikshit.

Related: Atishi to be sworn in as Delhi CM today

The 43-year-old is also Delhi’s youngest woman chief minister. Dikshit was 60 years old when she took charge while Swaraj was 46.

She is only the second woman chief minister in the country at present, alongside West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee.

The following is a list of all women chief ministers in India’s history:

* Sucheta Kripalani: Independent India’s first woman chief minister, Kripalani headed the Congress government in Uttar Pradesh from 1963 to 1967

* Nandini Satpathy: The second woman chief minister of an Indian state, the Congress leader governed Odisha between 1972 and 1976. Her tenure coincided with the declaration of the Emergency in 1975

* Shashikala Kakodkar: The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party leader had two stints as chief minister of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu from 1973 to 1979. Goa gained statehood in 1987 while Daman and Diu remained a Union Territory

* Anwara Taimur: The first Muslim woman chief minister of an Indian state, she headed a Congress government in Assam from 1980 to 1981

* VN Janaki Ramachandran: The actor-turned-politician, apart from being Tamil Nadu’s first woman chief minister, was also the first film artiste to hold the post in India. She held the post for 23 days in 1988 following the death of her husband MG Ramachandran

* J Jayalalithaa: Another actor-turned-politician, Jayalalithaa served more than 14 years as chief minister of Tamil Nadu, spanning six terms

* Mayawati: The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo served four times as Uttar Pradesh chief minister for a combined seven years

* Rajinder Kaur Bhattal: Punjab’s only woman chief minister, the Congress leader’s tenure lasted from 1996 to 1997

* Rabri Devi: Taking the reins after her husband Lalu Prasad Yadav was sent to jail in 1997, she is Bihar’s only woman chief minister

* Sushma Swaraj: Delhi’s first woman chief minister, the BJP leader had a brief tenure of 52 days in 1998

* Sheila Dikshit: The senior Congress leader remains Delhi’s longest-serving chief minister, having held office for 15 years between 1998 and 2013

* Uma Bharti: A leader of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, she was Madhya Pradesh chief minister from 2003 to 2004

* Vasundhara Raje: The daughter of Vijayaraje Scindia-Shinde and Jivajirao Scindia-Shinde, the maharaja of Gwalior, she governed Rajasthan as chief minister for 10 years

* Mamata Banerjee: The incumbent West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo is in her third successive term in office since assuming power in 2011

* Anandiben Patel: Gujarat’s only woman chief minister, she succeeded Narendra Modi after he was sworn in as prime minister. Her tenure lasted from 2014 to 2016

* Mehbooba Mufti: The People’s Democratic Party leader was Jammu and Kashmir’s first woman chief minister. She was also the last chief minister of the erstwhile state.

Atishi takes oath as new Delhi CM, five ministers also sworn in

Senior AAP leader Atishi was administered oath as the eighth Chief Minister of Delhi by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Saturday.

Saxena administered the oath of office and secrecy to Atishi who is now Delhi’s third woman chief minister after Congress’ Sheila Dikshit and BJP’s Sushma Swaraj.

Among her new Council of Ministers, Saurabh Bharadwaj was the first to take oath followed by Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and Mukesh Ahlawat, a new entrant in the Delhi Cabinet.

Atishi, however, will have a brief tenure in office as assembly elections in the national capital are due in February.

The swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Niwas here, which was a low-key affair, was attended by Atishi’s predecessor and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and other party leaders and MLAs.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, BJP MPs, including Union Minister of State Harsh Malhotra, and Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora also also attended the ceremony.

South Delhi BJP MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that the Atishi government should fulfill the promises made by the AAP to the public.

“The new government should give relief to the public by reducing electricity and water bills; property tax should be waived in Delhi rural. Apart from this, The Central government’s Ayushman Bharat scheme should be implemented in Delhi,” Bidhuri said.

The new Delhi Cabinet headed by Atishi has a long list of pending projects, schemes and new initiatives to be launched in the next few months.

She will have to hit the ground running to accelerate the city government’s functioning and ensure that the flagship projects and schemes are back on track after being slowed down for months due to the imprisonment of Kejriwal.

Due to the five-month-long judicial custody of Kejriwal in the excise policy case, the AAP government had been struggling to address issues related to basic services and infrastructure that include roads, water supply and sewer, and medicines owing to alleged fund crunch.

Atishi will have to deal with these issues during her short span of chief ministership, apart from ensuring implementation of Kejriwal’s promise to provide INR 1,000 honorarium to eligible women in Delhi under proposed ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana’.