Vijender Gupta, former BJP Delhi chief, set to become new assembly Speaker

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday picked Rohini MLA Vijender Gupta, a former head of its Delhi unit, as its candidate for the post of Delhi assembly Speaker.

Confirming his nomination, the senior leader told news agency PTI, “I will first of all get the CAG reports that were kept pending by the previous AAP government, tabled before the House.”

In the recently-held Delhi assembly election, which saw the BJP end the decade-long rule of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Capital, Vijender Gupta’s winning margin (37,816) from Rohini was the highest among all 48 BJP candidates who won their respective constituencies.

The 61-year-old, who scored a hattrick of wins from the Rohini seat, was the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi assembly from August 2024 to February 2025, succeeding party colleague Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who got elected to the Lok Sabha.

Gupta was also the LoP from April 2015 to February 2020. From May 2010 to February 2013, he led the BJP’s Delhi unit.

Meanwhile, old videos of Vijender Gupta being marshalled out of the House on the orders of then Speaker Ram Niwas Goel of the AAP, have been going viral on social media.

Commenting on the videos, many pointed to how Vijender Gupta is now all set to be the new presiding officer of the assembly, while AAP chief and ex-Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Ram Niwas Goel will not be in the assembly.

Arvind Kejriwal lost to the BJP’s Parvesh Verma, while Ram Niwas Goel ‘retired’ from electoral politics, citing his age.

The BJP, which is coming back to power after 27 years in Delhi, has picked Rekha Gupta, a first-time legislator who won the Shalimar Bagh seat, as the chief minister. Rekha Gupta will be sworn in at a grand ceremony, which will take place at the iconic Ramila Maidan on Thursday afternoon.