The Wong Tai Sin District Board became Wong Tai Sin Provisional District Board after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was established in 1997 with the appointment system being reintroduced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

Due to the district's industrial character, the Wong Tai Sin District Council has been a stronghold for the pro-Beijing traditional leftists, returning one of its first directly elected Legislative Councillors Chan Yuen-han, who was member of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) and represented the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB).

The pro-democrats also had their influence in the district, seeing Conrad Lam of the United Democrats of Hong Kong elected to the Legislative Council in 1985 and 1991.

Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai was also a long-time Wong Tai Sin District Councillor, representing King Fu from 1999 to 2019.

The pro-democrats scored a historic landslide victory in the 2019 election amid the massive pro-democracy protests by taking all the seats in the council.