Being the Chief Minister of Delhi is definitely a rare feat to achieve, and for Atishi Marlena Singh this is one of the several impressive achievements she has achieved so far.
Atishi becomes the third woman Chief Minister of Delhi after Sheila Dixit and Sushma Swaraj.
Atishi succeeded former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. In her capacity as a member of the Delhi government, Atishi held several portfolios like and Minister of Education, P.W.D, Culture and Tourism.
1981 born Atishi comes from a family of professors. Her parents, Tripta Wahi, Vijay Singh, were professors at Delhi University. She had completed her schooling from Springdales School in Delhi. After her schooling she moved to St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University to complete her bachelor's degree.
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Atishi has a Masters degree in History from Oxford University through Chevening Scholarship. In 2005 she joined Magdalen College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Before joining politics Atishi was a teacher at Rishi valley school in Andhra Pradesh where she taught History and English. She was also engaged in organic farming with her husband Praveen Singh, an IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus. As per her Instagram bio, Atishi is a Harry Potter fan.
Those who might be wondering what the Marlena middle name stands for should know that it is a portmanteau of two names Marx and Lennin. Until 2018, she used Marlena as her last name and dropped her surname. However, due to political reasons she dropped her second name Marlena in all party records and campaigns after it was alleged that she was trying to polarize voters. She had dropped her surname from her social media handle as well.
Atishi's actual surname is Singh and she comes from a Punjabi Rajput family.
Her political career began with her active participation in the Aam Aadmi Party's Manifesto Drafting Committee for the 2013 Delhi assembly election.
In 2019, Atishi was appointed the Lok Sabha in-charge for East Delhi constituency. She lost to BJP's Gautam Gambhir in the election. In 2020, Atishi defeated BJP's Dharambir Singh and won the Kalkaji constituency. After Manish Sisodia and Satyender Jain's exit from the cabinet, Atishi was inducted in Delhi government as a cabinet minister.
