Atishi, Gopal Rai frontrunner for LoP post in Delhi assembly

The name will officially be announced when the decision is taken, an AAP leader, seeking anonymity, said

Delhi’s outgoing chief minister Atishi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gopal Rai, four-term Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha, and four-term Tilak Nagar MLA Jarnail Singh are purportedly among the front runners for the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Delhi assembly, AAP officials said on Friday.

Delhi acting chief minister Atishi. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

“The name of the Leader of Opposition has not yet been decided, but Atishi, Gopal Rai, Sanjeev Jha and Jarnail Singh are among the front runners for the position. The name will officially be announced when the decision is taken,” an AAP leader, seeking anonymity, said.

The AAP faced a setback in the recently concluded Delhi assembly elections and was ousted from power by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who won 48 seats and returned to power after 27 years while the AAP secured only 22 seats, losing its decade long government in the Capital.

The top leader in the list, Atishi, represents Kalkaji assembly constituency, where she has won for the second consecutive term. She served as an AAP minister handling 18 portfolios including finance, PWD, education, planning, among others, before she was appointed the chief minister in September 2024. On February 9 -- a day after results of the assembly polls were announced -- she filed her resignation as the CM and was asked to continue as caretaker chief minister till the new CM is sworn in.

Gopal Rai, who has won a third consecutive time from Babarpur assembly constituency, has been a Delhi minister since 2015 and has handled portfolios including transport, environment, and development, among others. He is one of the senior most AAP MLAs and is considered a good orator by the party. Further, he has been serving as the convenor of the AAP’s Delhi unit.

One of the sitting MLAs of the AAP, asking not to be named, said the best choice for the post of the LoP would have been Arvind Kejriwal or Manish Sisodia, but both of them have lost the 2025 elections in New Delhi and Jangpura constituencies, respectively.

The AAP’s Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha has been elected to the assembly for the fourth consecutive time while Jarnail Singh has been elected from Tilak Nagar constituency for the fourth term.