Atishi Marlena

Atishi Marlena Singh, also known as Atishi Singh, Atishi Marlena is an Indian politician, educator, political activist and MLA from Kalkaji, Delhi.

She is a member of the Political Affairs Committee of Aam Aadmi Party and currently serving as Minister of Education, P.W.D, Culture and Tourism in the Delhi Government.

Atishi was born to Delhi University professors Vijay Singh and Tripta Wahi on 8 June 1981 in a family of Punjabi and Rajput backgrounds.

She was given the middle name 'Marlena' by her parents.

According to her party, the name is a portmanteau of Marx and Lenin.

After being raised in Delhi, and finishing high school from Springdales School (Pusa Road), New Delhi, Atishi graduated in history from St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 2001.

Soon after, she went to the Oxford University and in 2003 she completed her master's degree in History on a Chevening scholarship.

In 2005 she went to Magdalen College, Oxford as a Rhodes scholar.

In January 2013, she became involved in policy formulation for the AAP, which has its roots in that movement.

She was closely involved with the Jal Satyagraha in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh 2015 and provided support to the AAP leader and activist spearheading the campaign Alok Agarwal during the historic protests, as well as during the legal battle that ensued.

She served as Advisor to the Former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, primarily on education, from July 2015 to 17 April 2018.

In 2018, right before the national elections, she chose to use "Atishi" as her name, dropping her surname from daily use, since she wanted people to focus on her work rather than her lineage.

Atishi was appointed the Lok Sabha in-charge for East Delhi for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

She contested from the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency as an AAP party candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

She lost to BJP's candidate Gautam Gambhir by a margin of 4.77 lakh votes, coming in third.

On March 15, 2019, Atishi Marlena and three other party leaders were summoned to court in response to a defamation case filed by the Delhi BJP's vice-president, Rajeev Babbar.

The case stemmed from their claim that the BJP had removed 30 lakh names from Delhi's voter list.

The court found the allegation prima facie defamatory and invoked Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for defamation.

The case revolved around allegations of voter list manipulation and its impact on the BJP's reputation.

After the 2020 elections, she was made the AAP's in-charge for its Goa unit.

She contested in the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election from Kalkaji constituency of South Delhi.

She defeated Dharambir Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, by 11,422 votes.

As a Cabinet Minister

She was inducted into the Delhi Government as a Cabinet Minister, along with Saurabh Bharadwaj after the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyender Jain.

Since 2020, she is an elected member of the 7th Delhi Assembly representing Kalkaji Assembly constituency.

Atishi was also spearheading the flagship Mohalla Sabha Project for the Government of NCT of Delhi.

The effort to decentralise governance to empower every citizen was a major promise of the AAP before coming to power.