New Delhi, Dec 27 (AHN) The current year will go down in the annals of Delhi politics as a turning point for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which returned to power from a 27-year-long political exile.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, a first-time MLA, is undoubtedly the rising star of the year. In her initial 10 months in office, the city’s fourth woman CM has strived to deliver poll promises on multiple fronts, including Ayushman health insurance yojana, Arogya Mandirs, law to check school fee hikes, new e-buses, free bus rides for women and Atal Canteens for affordable meals.

Interestingly, there was a visible presence of Union Ministers at all major events and announcements related to development projects in the city -- be it houses for slum dwellers, Ayushman Yojana and Arogya Mandirs, expansion of Delhi Metro, introduction of e-buses, piped cooking gas for villagers, Atal canteens and pollution mitigation efforts.

The attempt appeared to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s way of taking care of Delhiites -- a promise he made during the Assembly election campaign -- through his team of Union Ministers.

Chhath Puja

CM Gupta also impressed the Poorvanchali community with memorable Chhath Puja celebrations on Yamuna banks. But the legacy problems of the Yamuna, air pollution and waterlogging tested her administrative skills under the critical eye of the out-of-power Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders.

The Chief Minister also made the right moves to impress the youth by restarting University Special buses in Delhi University, which were stopped almost five years ago, and organising Industrial Ideathon for promoting technical innovation and engaging young minds. For young sportspersons, she announced an enhancement in official rewards for medal winners in international sports events.

Mahila Samridhi Yojana

The fulfilment of the election promise of delivering Rs 2,500 monthly financial assistance to women appears to have been pushed to 2026 -- though within the current financial year. All eyes would be on the next International Women’s Day on March 8, 2026, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had guaranteed during the election campaign that women would get the dole on IWD.

Some BJP leaders believe that if the Mahila Samridhi Yojana (MSY) money starts reaching the bank accounts of Delhi women in March, the move could boost the BJP’s electoral chances in the Punjab Assembly elections in April-May.

The AAP is in power in Punjab and struggling to fulfil its promise of paying Rs 1,000 to women there. In such a scenario, the BJP may want to showcase its successful delivery of MSY in Delhi under Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, said a party leader.

The Delhi government allocated Rs 5,100 crore for the MSY in its 2025-26 Budget. Apart from this promise, the government has plans to install 50,000 CCTV cameras for women's safety and provide Rs 21,000 for pregnant women.

Pollution challenge

While the Rekha Gupta government took initiatives on cleaning the Yamuna, its actions on air pollution remained inadequate as the city’s air turned very poor for several days during the Winter. The valiant attempt to trigger artificial rain with the help of experts from IIT-Kanpur generated excitement in the city, though it did not yield results to the expected level.

Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena encouraged CM Gupta to continue the fight against pollution -- including the pollution check certificate drive for vehicles -- and hit out at former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for trivialising the fight against pollution. He also exposed the AAP leader by writing to him and recalling their 2022 discussion in which he showed little interest in countering the problem while he was the Chief Minister.

Administrative reforms

With the swearing in of the Rekha Gupta government, the practice of weekly Cabinet meetings was revived in Player’s Building -- the riverside secretariat of the Delhi government. The AAP government had done away with this crucial decision-making exercise.

The city also got a new Chief Secretary in Rajeev Verma and a new Police Commissioner in Satish Golcha, energising the welfare delivery and security setups.

The Chief Minister also reorganised Delhi’s 11 districts into 13 new administrative units for efficient governance. She also announced that the Delhi Government will establish modern, multi-departmental ‘Mini Secretariats’ in all 13 districts, where citizens will be able to access numerous services such as Revenue Offices, SDM, ADM, Tehsil, and Sub-Registrar Offices at a single location.

After relaxing the age and educational qualification norms, CM Gupta handed over government job letters to survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and their family members. The gesture tried to bring some sort of closure to the pain and suffering the victims and their kin endured for 40 long years.

MCD by-elections

The BJP’s electoral success in the Assembly elections in February continued to reflect in its performance in the MCD by-elections. Chief Minister Gupta’s popularity saw the party win 7 out of the 12 wards. She herself was an MCD councillor before being fielded as a candidate from the Shalimar Bagh Assembly seat.

Apart from the BJP’s dominance in the civic polls, the Opposition parties, especially the Congress, got their much-needed political oxygen by winning a few seats. The Congress won just one ward, but it marked the opening of an account in an election after a long time. The AAP won three wards and others one.

Worst terror attack in a decade

The November 10 car bomb blast near Red Fort, which claimed 11 lives, was the first significant terror strike in the Capital since the 2011 explosion near the Delhi High Court. Despite the gruesome incident, the security agencies, led by the NIA, managed to foil a bigger plot to carry out serial blasts by a cell of highly-motivated terrorists, mostly professionals like doctors. At an Anti-Terror Conference, Union Home Minister Amit Shah even praised the investigators who exposed the larger conspiracy.

Assembly goes paperless

During the year, Delhi MLAs relished the infusion of technology in the legislative process. They got new tablets as the Assembly switched to paperless business transactions in record time under Speaker Vijender Gupta.

With some assistance from the Union Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, Gupta saw the introduction of NeVA (National e-Vidhan Application), through which the Assembly has become a fully digital and paperless House.

He also steered the conversion of the Assembly into a completely solar-powered green legislature and initiated steps to develop the Delhi Legislative Assembly as a Heritage Site.

A seasoned legislator himself, Gupta took initiatives like full operationalisation of the Audit Para Monitoring System (APMS) within the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, making Delhi arguably the first State Assembly in the country to implement a comprehensive real-time audit monitoring portal.

The year ahead

The BJP came to power in Delhi by winning 48 seats in the 70-member Assembly. Upon taking oath, Chief Minister Gupta promised to prioritise the interests of women, the poor, and the middle class. Her government has focused on increasing administrative transparency, reviewing pending projects, and investigating allegations of corruption, but a lot more is needed to achieve the goal of “Viksit Delhi@2047”.

As the Chief Minister prepares to lead the city into another exciting year with mega EV policy initiatives to clean the air, Rekha Gupta has also learnt some tough lessons in the last 10 months in office.

She endured a bid to physically attack her at a camp office and faced personal comments and memes on social media from rivals, especially AAP supporters. The three-time councillor also faced heat when rivals questioned the presence of her husband at some official meetings attended by her. On the whole, CM Gupta has tried her best to serve the people and return political punches to rivals at every available opportunity.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to serve Delhiites and the Yamuna “personally” also holds out hope for citizens who are expecting better, improved civic and welfare services and significant change in the pollution scenario in 2026.