Atishi Marlena, Who Once Led By Just 7 Votes, Wins After Tense Fight

Atishi, one of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s most prominent faces, had to fight to win from the Kalkaji seat as Delhi votes were counted on Tuesday. She was among the AAP leaders who spent much of the day in suspense, locked in narrow fights in their constituencies even as the party galloped towards a massive victory.

At one point, Atishi, 38, was leading by just seven votes over her BJP rival Dharambir Singh.

"I was confident that I will make up in the final rounds. But I was nervous initially," Atishi told NDTV.

Atishi contested last year's national election but lost to the BJP's Gautam Gambhir. This time, AAP dropped its Kalkaji MLA Avtar Singh Kalka to nominate her.

She said she had chosen Kalkaji for her assembly poll contest as it was "a most education-related constituency".

"A lot of work has been done in education in Kalkaji, and I am very interested in education," she said.

Education, however, was not that was heard at the height of the bitter campaign, during which hate speeches and the Shaheen Bagh protest against the citizenship law dominated the narrative.

"I think Delhi's people had decided. They had only one name on their mind and that was Arvind Kejriwal. Finally, they voted in the name of development," she said.

Atishi dodged a question on whether she was looking to be handed a ministry, specifically the Education Ministry. "I will do whatever the party asks," she smiled.

"I thank the people of Delhi for giving us another chance".