Story by Raksha Bhattacharjee
The leader who defeated Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP in the New Delhi seat, Parvesh Verma, is said to be the preferred candidate for Delhi chief minister.
As the Bharatiya Janata Party makes a spectacular return to Delhi, there is much conjecture regarding the party’s selection for the position of chief minister. The saffron party defeated the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party handily, winning 48 of 70 seats in the 2025 Delhi assembly election, according to the results announced by the Election Commission of India on Saturday, February 8.
The BJP candidate for the city’s top position is still a mystery to Delhi residents, though. Son of the late Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, who emerged as a giant-killer in these elections, defeating Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi assembly constituency, Parvesh Verma is at the top of the list of possible candidates.
Only 22 seats were won by the AAP.
A number of senior politicians from the Delhi section of the saffron party were among the winners, which means they could also run for chief minister
Ashish Sood and Pawan Sharma.
A senior BJP official told news agency PTI that “former state secretary general (organization) Pawan Sharma and Ashish Sood are also potential candidates.” In the Janakpuri assembly constituency, Ashish Sood was victorious with 68,986 votes.
Sood is a senior BJP official who gained practical knowledge in administrative affairs while working for the BJP at the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
In addition, he serves as the BJP’s Goa in-charge and co-in-charge of the Jammu and Kashmir faction. The Uttam Nagar seat was won by Pawan Sharma with an overwhelming 1,03,613 votes. Party leaders stated that Sharma, who is currently the co-charge for BJP Assam, is among the top candidates for the position of chief minister.
Other names that could be used
Vijender Gupta and Satish Upadhyay, the past presidents of the Delhi BJP, are also veteran stalwarts who have attained the top position. Gupta defeated Rohini by a margin of more than 37,000 votes. Additionally, Gupta led the opposition in the last Delhi assembly.
The former vice-chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Upadhyay, received more than 39,000 votes to win the seat in Malviya Nagar. BJP leaders stated they believe the leader has close ties to the RSS leadership. The Madhya Pradesh unit of the party is also co-in-charged by Upadhyay.
Female Candidate
The BJP officials have not discounted the possibility that the central leadership will favor a female candidate for the Delhi chief minister position, even in light of this likely list of CM selections.
According to leaders, two such leaders who might be taken into consideration in that situation are Rekha Gupta and Shikha Roy. By a margin of 3,188 votes, Shikha Roy defeated Saurabh Bharadwaj, the leader of the AAP, from the Greater Kailash constituency. In the meantime, Rekha Gupta defeated Bandana Kumari of the AAP by a margin of more than 29,000 votes in the Shalimar Bagh assembly seat.
A few MPs might be considered for the position of chief minister if the BJP leadership changed their mind and chose to choose someone from outside the Legislature. According to certain party figures quoted by PTI, these include Harsh Malhotra, the Union minister and MP for East Delhi, and Manoj Tiwari, the MP for North-East Delhi and a prominent Purvanchali figure.
A top BJP official also issued a warning, saying that there isn’t much space for guesswork on CM selections given the prior outcomes in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan. “You never know… The national leadership can come out with an altogether fresh face who fits the bill and is capable of discharging the duties as the chief minister of Delhi amid high expectations of the people,” remarked the president. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva stated that the BJP’s central leadership will choose the chief ministerial face.
