NEW DELHI: The newly formed cabinet, led by CM Rekha Gupta, includes no Muslim minister. Despite having representation from various castes and classes, the cabinet lacks representation from the city’s 12% Muslim population for a reason that the BJP had not given a ticket to any Muslim candidate.
During Sheila Dikshit’s tenure, Okhla MLA Parvez Hashmi was inducted into her cabinet in 1998, serving in key portfolios like transport and Public Works. In 2001, after Hashmi was dismissed, Haroon Yusuf from Ballimaran was appointed as a minister and remained a fixture in the Congress government.
When the AAP formed a government in 2013, it also did not include any Muslim ministers, though the government lasted only 49 days. Upon Kejriwal’s return to power in 2015 with a larger mandate, Asim Ahmed Khan, who won from Matia Mahal, was sworn in as a cabinet minister with responsibilities in Food and Civil Supply, Environment, Minority Affairs ministries. However, Khan was later removed following corruption charges and replaced by Imran Hussain in 2015, who served as a Delhi minister until 2025.
The BJP, which first governed Delhi in 1993, has not fielded any Muslim candidates in the 2025 elections. None of the 48 BJP MLAs elected this time are from the Muslim community.