LLB TO CM: 'AAM MAHILA' THEN AND NOW

EKHA Gupta's journey from a fiery student leader to Delhi's Chief Minister in 2025 is nothing less than cinematic.

- RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR

The pendulum swung her way when she got the chief ministership out of the blue, a role those who know her claim she hadn't actively pursued. She called it a "miracle." It was more a man-made one, considering that this newspaper first broke the news about her prospects of becoming chief minister, soon after the results were out on February 8. Hence, it is time to introduce her to the larger audience.

Though the BJP has managed to spring such surprises in other states before, the selection of Gupta is based on her administrative experience among the elected MLAs. Gupta's experience of Delhi at ground zero as corporator did weigh in for her. Her caste would have mattered, too. A sizeable electorate of Delhi hails from her Baniya community. That her predecessor, Arvind Kejriwal, shares the same caste allows for a sense of social continuity at the top of the government.