Atishi handed over a letter of resignation to lieutenant governor VK Saxena during a meeting at Raj Niwas, who in turn forwarded it to President Droupadi Murmu for acceptance — Delhi is a Union territory, and thus, the appointing authority of the chief minister is the President.
The LG’s office said Saxena has asked Atishi to continue as the caretaker chief minister till the formation of a new government.
“Hon’ble Lt Governor, Shri VK Saxena today received the resignation of Hon’ble CM, Ms Atishi. He asked her to continue in her position till the formation of the new government,” the official social media account of Raj Niwas, Delhi posted on X.
Delhi went to polls on February 5, and in the results declared on Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party stormed to power in the Capital, winning 48 seats in the 70-member House. The AAP’s tally was reduced to just 22, down from 62 in the 2020 polls, while the Congress drew a blank for the third assembly election in Delhi in a row.
Atishi, who won from the Kalkaji constituency, was one of the few AAP heavyweights who managed to retain their seats. On Sunday, she visited the Kalkaji temple, posting on X, “By the grace of Kalka Mai, truth and justice prevailed in the Kalkaji assembly, and those indulging in hooliganism, abusive language and insulting women were shown the door by the people.”
The former CM was referring to purported sexist remarks during the run up to the polls by her BJP rival Ramesh Bidhuri.
Her tenure as Delhi’s seventh CM was a truncated one — she was only appointed in September 2024, after her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP national convener, stepped down amid corruption allegations against him.
Separately, a BJP leader said the party is likely to stake a claim to form the Delhi government next week, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from his official foreign tour.
Modi is scheduled to visit France and the US later this week, and is likely to be back on February 14 or 15.
The BJP contested the Delhi elections without a CM face.
ECI completes Delhi poll process
The Election Commission of India (ECI) officially concluded the process of the Delhi legislative assembly elections by submitting the due Constitution notification containing the list of the newly elected candidates to LG Saxena.
Present at the occasion were ECI principal secretary Ajoy Kumar, Delhi chief electoral officer R Alice Vaz, ECI secretary BC Patra, and Delhi special chief electoral officer Rajesh Kumar.
