Who is Atishi, the new Delhi Chief Minister replacing Arvind Kejriwal?

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday proposed the name of Atishi Singh as the new Chief Minister of Delhi. She will be replacing Arvind Kejriwal, who stepped down from the post days after he was granted bail in the Delhi liquor policy case.  

CREDIT: IANS

Atishi's name did not come as a surprise, as she, along with Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal and Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, were among the frontrunners to be the next CM.  

Who is Atishi?

Atishi Singh, who was born Atishi Marlena Singh, is the MLA from Kalkaji and was serving as the Minister of Education, P.W.D., Culture, and Tourism in the Kejriwal government.  

CREDIT: IANS

Born to parents who were both Delhi University professors, Atishi is a graduate of St. Stephen's College, Delhi. She did her master's in history at Oxford University. Atishi, who established herself as an educationalist, entered politics with the formation of the AAP.  

Why Atishi Marlena Singh dropped her middle name

Her parents, Vijay Singh and Tripta Wahi, had named her Atishi Marlena Singh, with her middle name being an acronym of Marx and Lenin.  

In December 2018, after she was declared AAP's East Delhi candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Atishi dropped her second name, Marlena, to avoid confusion and prevent her from being misidentified as a “foreigner and a Christian.”  

CREDIT: ANI

Lost first election to Gautam Gambhir

In her electoral debut, Atishi lost to BJP's candidate Gautam Gambhir by a margin of 4.77 lakh votes and finished third in the East Delhi seat.  

Delhi Education Minister

However, a year later, she was elected to the Delhi Assembly from Kalkaji and was made the Education Minister after the resignation of the then Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia in March 2023.

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