Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators in New Delhi have chosen State Minister Atishi as the new Chief Minister-designate, succeeding Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal is set to submit his resignation to Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena later today.

Atishi Marlena Singh, the sole woman minister in the Delhi Cabinet and MLA from Kalkaji, was selected for the top post just months before the upcoming Delhi Assembly election. Holding the largest number of portfolios in the AAP government, she will take over the leadership from Kejriwal, who recently obtained interim bail in connection with the liquor policy case and announced his decision to step down.

Several AAP leaders, including Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Sunita Kejriwal, were speculated to be in the running for the role. However, Atishi’s nomination was endorsed by the party’s MLAs during a meeting at Kejriwal’s residence.

The formal handover of the chief ministership will begin following Kejriwal’s meeting with the L-G at 4:30 p.m. today.

Kejriwal, who announced his resignation plan on September 15, 2024, after his release from prison, has called for an early Assembly election to give the people of Delhi a chance to “decide if the AAP government is an honest one.”