Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has officially dissolved the Seventh Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, effective February 8, 2025, following the resignation of Chief Minister Atishi.
Atishi, who submitted her resignation to the Lieutenant Governor on Sunday, stepped down after her party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), suffered a significant defeat in the recent Delhi Assembly elections. The dissolution of the assembly now clears the way for the formation of a new government under the leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In his official order, LG Saxena stated, “In exercise of the power conferred upon me by sub-section (2)(b) of section 6 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, I, Vinai Kumar Saxena, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, hereby dissolve the Seventh Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi with effect from February 8, 2025.”
Atishi, 43, had served as the Chief Minister since September 2024, after Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation from the post. She became the third woman Chief Minister of Delhi, following Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit.
In Saturday’s assembly elections, the BJP secured a resounding victory, winning 48 of the 70 seats and returning to power in Delhi after 27 years. Meanwhile, AAP’s seat count dropped dramatically to just 22, down from 62 in the previous election.
Despite the loss, Atishi managed to retain the Kalkaji seat, defeating BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri by a margin of 3,521 votes. Her victory in Kalkaji stands out, especially as several senior AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, lost their constituencies. BJP’s Parvesh Verma notably triumphed over Kejriwal in the New Delhi seat by more than 4,000 votes.
The Congress, which had hoped for a revival in the national capital, failed to secure any seats in the election.