Delhi polls: From caste and community to gender, BJP’s delicate balancing act while picking next CM

The BJP has convincingly won the Delhi Assembly polls.

The party won a massive 48 seats in the 70-seat Assembly.

Now, the BJP has to deal with a vital question –  who will be the next chief minister of Delhi?

A number of names including are doing the rounds.

But what do we know? And what does the BJP need to keep in mind while picking the next Delhi CM?

Let’s take a closer look:

Names in running

The New Indian Express quoted Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva as saying the decision would be taken by the central leadership.

A number of names are doing the rounds including Vijender Gupta, Virendra Sachdeva, Satish Upadhyay, Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, Vijay Goel, Bansuri Swaraj and Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

Sources tol_d Economic Times_ that the BJP’s central leadership is likely to go in for an MLA.

The decision may take at least a week as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to depart for France and the United States.

The BJP, if looking at recent history in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan may pick someone from the OBC or Jat community, as the New Indian Express.

Verma, a Jat leader who defeated Kejriwal in Delhi, may be in a strong position here.

Not only has Verma already met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he represents a community that comprises 10 per cent of the Delhi electorate.

The Jats also have a strong presence in Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh – all neighbouring states.

Gupta and Satish Upadhyay, both ex-BJP Delhi chiefs, could also be a favoured.

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Upadhyay, a Brahmin, and Gupta, a Baniya, bring the party regional diversity in the national capital.

Sources told Indian Express that the party needs to keep factors such as experience, gender, caste and community.

The person also needs to hew to the party’s promise of a “Delhi befitting the status of India’s capital city” and strengthening the party’s future in the national capital.

Sources said discussions about the possible CM began quickly after the party announced its last list of candidates.

This came in concert with the start of Modi’s public meetings in the city.

“A BJP Lok Sabha MP could be the CM pick. East Delhi MP Harsh Malhotra, North East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari and New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj seem to tick all the boxes required in this regard,” a party source said.

“While there are incoming MLAs like former West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma, who defeated Arvind Kejriwal and is understood to have been personally chosen by the PM to take on the former Delhi CM, two former presidents of the party’s state unit — Vijender Gupta, who won for the fourth consecutive term, with a margin of almost 38,000 votes, and Satish Upadhyay, whose winning margin is a little over 2,100, are also there,” a senior leader said.

Sources said the party the discussions ranged from one of its Lok Sabha MPs to a new MLA – especially a woman.

A woman CM?

It is possible that the BJP goes in for a woman chief minister.

According to The Week, the BJP has a few options among its MLAs – Rekha Gupta, Poonam Sharma, Shikha Roy or Neelam Pahalwan.

Or it could go with ex-Union minister Smriti Irani or BJP Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj.

Delhi, after all, has a history with woman chief ministers.

Sushma Swaraj served as chief minister in 1998 – though her reign lasted for just 52 days.

Then, of course, you have Sheila Dikshit of the Congress who became the longest-serving chief minister in Delhi.

Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi till 2013 – when the Congress was defeated by the AAP.

The BJP picking a woman could also be seen as a strategic ploy against the AAP, which made Atishi the chief minister in Delhi in 2024 – the youngest ever chief minister of Delhi.

With inputs from agencies