Delhi minister Atishi will take over as Chief Minister after Arvind Kejriwal resigns from the top post after a meeting with Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena this afternoon. The decision was taken at a Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders’ meeting today. 

At the AAP meeting today, party leader Dilip Pandey proposed that Mr Kejriwal decide on the Chief Minister face. When the AAP national convener proposed Ms Atishi’s name, all AAP MLAs stood up and accepted it and Ms Atishi was elected leader of the legislature party, sources have said.

Ms Atishi currently holds key portfolios in the Delhi government such as education and PWD.

An Oxford University alumnus and a Rhodes scholar, Ms Atishi has worked extensively in the AAP’s flagship exercise to overhaul education in Delhi’s schools.

An MLA from Kalkaji, the 43-year-old became a minister after Mr Sisodia was arrested in a corruption case linked to Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor policy. When Mr Kejriwal and Mr Sisodia were behind bars, Atishi articulated the party’s position.

On August 15, Mr Kejriwal chose her to hoist the tricolour at Delhi government’s Independence Day event. While Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena foiled the plan, it was clear that the AAP leadership places a lot of faith in Ms Atishi.