Ajay Maken was a surprise omission from the Council of Ministers for Delhi, which was finalised on Friday.

He is tipped to become the assembly speaker.

A K Walia, Haroon Yusuf, Raj Kumar Chauhan were the only outgoing ministers to be retained in the Cabinet, official sources said.

The new faces in the Cabinet will be Mangat Ram Singhal and Arvinder Singh Lovely while Yoganand Shastri is staging a comeback, they said.

Chief Minister- designate Sheila Dikshit finalised the Cabinet in the evening.

Former minister Krishna Tirath will be Congress' nominee for the post of deputy speaker, the sources said.

Kiran Chaudhary, who lost in the December 1 polls, earlier held the post.

Ramakant Goswami, considered close to Dikshit, will be the ruling party's chief whip in the assembly, they said.