The Delhi Assembly elections results concluded this Saturday, with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) all set to form its government in the capital after 27 long years. It defeated the Aam Aadmi Party by winning a historic 48 seats, only restricting the party at 22 seats shattering the hopes for a third-consecutive term. Notably, the Delhi Assembly elections saw a significant drop in the number of women winners who even fell from a considerable eight in 2020 to now 5 in 2025. This is the lowest number of women winners, the least in a decade.
The Delhi Legislative Assembly comprises of 70 members, with only 5 women making it to the top as MLAs, this is just a mere 7% of the whole. Among those who won, there is also the name of ousting Chief Minister Aatishi Marlena, the only women candidate and a major face of the AAP who won in the Delhi Assembly elections this year. The others include BJP candidates Neelam Pahelwan, Rekha Gupta, Poonam Sharma and Shikha Roy.
Here is the complete description of the five females who are now MLAs in the Delhi Legislative Assemblies:
Aatishi Marlena
Aaitishi Marlena is the outgoing Chief minister of Delhi serving since September 2024, she gave her resignation to Lieutenant Governor of Delhi on Saturday. Aaitishi gave a tough fight in the intnese battle for the Kalkaji constituency, where she was fighting against BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri and Congress’s Alka . Kalkaji was a battle at stake, and a win-win for every party.
The last fight was between BJP and AAP only, where Aatishi defeated Bidhuri by a winning margin of 3,521 votes. Aatishi retained her seat from the Kalkaji constituency, which she had won back in 2020. Notably, BJP has never won from the Kalkaji seat. Aatishi was the only one who didn’t prove to be a disappointmnet for her party, and said after her win, “Jang jaari rahegi”. She emerged stronger, first being an activist, then an advisor, then minister and finally, leading a state. And now, she might be the only one representative of her party owing to the loss.
Shikha Roy
Another major winner in the Delhi Assembly elections has to be Shikha Roy, who defeated Saurabh Bharadwaj in his den. Saurabh Bharadwaj is the incumbent Health minister of Delhi, a big wig of the AAP. Greater Kailash has always been the center of AAP’s political strength, this has to be aa major win for Shikha Roy as well as the BJP. She emerged victorious by winning with a margin of 3,188 votes from the Greater Kailash. Let us call her a wildcard winner, who could defeat a three-time winner. Roy as been serving as the Municiopal Councillor of Greater Kailash, and also been on significant positions in the Delhi Municipal Corporation, including that of the Chairperson of the Standing committee. Now it would be a watchful event to look out for her work in the upper middle class, middle class area along with the urban village segment, that includes cluster of jugghis.
Neelam Pahelwan
Neelam Pahelwan, one of the four BJP women candidates was contesrting from Najafgarh. She defeated arch rival Tarun Kumar from AAP by nearly 30,000 votes. 43 year old Neelam is the first woman MLA from the Najafgarh constituency. She joined BJP in 2020, and has even contested in the MCD elections of 2022. By profession, Neelam is a social worker, a politician and an investor.
Rekha Gupta
BJP candidate from Shalimar Bagh, Rekha Gupta could ensure her win against AAP’s Bandana Kumari by 29,595 votes. Apart from being a prominent BJP leader, Rekha is a former general secretary and President of Delhi University’s student union (1996-97). She is a member of the national executive of the BJP and general secretary of the state unit of the party. Prior to this, Rekha has also been elected to the Delhi councillor elections from Uttari Pitampura in 2007 and then in 2012.
Poonam Sharma
AAP’S Rajesh Gupta had to taste defeat in 2025 as he lost to BJP’s Poonam Sharma by 11,425 votes in the Wazirpur constituency. Nine major candidates were in fray for the Wazirpur constituency, but Sharma emerged as the ultimate winner. The 40 year old Poonam Sharma is only a 12th pass candidate, who is now in forraying in politics ensuring a big win.
This is something to ponder upon when the election relied heavily upon women-centric schemes and promises. Be it free bus rides or availability of gas cylinders at a subsidized rates. The women’s representation in the legislature is significantly the lowest, falling from eight to now only five. There were 699 candiates who contested in the Delhi Assembly elections 2025, out of which 96 were women. Last time in 2020, there were 76 women among 672 candidates. The BJP and AAP fielded nine female candidates while Congress had seven.
While it is always stressed upon 33% women representation in the assemblies, we see a negligible percentage when it comes to the ground reality. The capital itself faltering on the lines.