diff --git a/src/v/raft/consensus.cc b/src/v/raft/consensus.cc
index 8ab069f4e020d..51851a1705f1b 100644
--- a/src/v/raft/consensus.cc
+++ b/src/v/raft/consensus.cc
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
 #include <chrono>
 #include <iterator>
 #include <optional>
+#include <ranges>
 #include <system_error>
 
 template<>
@@ -3025,7 +3026,11 @@ ss::future<> consensus::maybe_commit_configuration(ssx::semaphore_units u) {
         vlog(
           _ctxlog.trace,
           "current node is not longer group member, stepping down");
-        do_step_down("not_longer_member");
+        co_await transfer_and_stepdown("no_longer_member");
+        if (_leader_id) {
+            _leader_id = std::nullopt;
+            trigger_leadership_notification();
+        }
     }
 }
 
@@ -3571,6 +3576,67 @@ consensus::do_transfer_leadership(transfer_leadership_request req) {
     return f.finally([this] { _transferring_leadership = false; });
 }
 
+ss::future<> consensus::transfer_and_stepdown(std::string_view ctx) {
+    // select a follower with longest log
+    auto voters = _fstats
+                  | std::views::filter(
+                    [](const follower_stats::container_t::value_type& p) {
+                        return !p.second.is_learner;
+                    });
+    auto it = std::max_element(
+      voters.begin(), voters.end(), [](const auto& a, const auto& b) {
+          return a.second.last_dirty_log_index < b.second.last_dirty_log_index;
+      });
+
+    if (unlikely(it == voters.end())) {
+        vlog(
+          _ctxlog.warn,
+          "Unable to find a follower that would be an eligible candidate to "
+          "take over the leadership");
+        do_step_down(ctx);
+        co_return;
+    }
+
+    const auto target = it->first;
+    vlog(
+      _ctxlog.info,
+      "[{}] stepping down as leader in term {}, dirty offset {}, with "
+      "leadership transfer to {}",
+      ctx,
+      _term,
+      _log->offsets().dirty_offset,
+      target);
+
+    timeout_now_request req{
+      .target_node_id = target,
+      .node_id = _self,
+      .group = _group,
+      .term = _term,
+    };
+    auto timeout = raft::clock_type::now()
+                   + config::shard_local_cfg().raft_timeout_now_timeout_ms();
+    auto r = co_await _client_protocol.timeout_now(
+      target.id(), std::move(req), rpc::client_opts(timeout));
+
+    if (r.has_error()) {
+        vlog(
+          _ctxlog.warn,
+          "[{}] stepping down - failed to request timeout_now from {} - "
+          "{}",
+          ctx,
+          target,
+          r.error().message());
+    } else {
+        vlog(
+          _ctxlog.trace,
+          "[{}]  stepping down - timeout now reply result: {} from node {}",
+          ctx,
+          r.value(),
+          target);
+    }
+    do_step_down(ctx);
+}
+
 ss::future<> consensus::remove_persistent_state() {
     // voted for
     co_await _storage.kvs().remove(
diff --git a/src/v/raft/consensus.h b/src/v/raft/consensus.h
index 1e606c1a86148..e3dda31953c3c 100644
--- a/src/v/raft/consensus.h
+++ b/src/v/raft/consensus.h
@@ -548,6 +548,9 @@ class consensus {
     // all these private functions assume that we are under exclusive operations
     // via the _op_sem
     void do_step_down(std::string_view);
+    // steps down and requests the other replica to start leader election
+    // immediately
+    ss::future<> transfer_and_stepdown(std::string_view);
     ss::future<vote_reply> do_vote(vote_request);
     ss::future<append_entries_reply>
     do_append_entries(append_entries_request&&);
diff --git a/src/v/raft/tests/basic_raft_fixture_test.cc b/src/v/raft/tests/basic_raft_fixture_test.cc
index ff93a22b8d1c3..c1a216f880820 100644
--- a/src/v/raft/tests/basic_raft_fixture_test.cc
+++ b/src/v/raft/tests/basic_raft_fixture_test.cc
@@ -20,7 +20,11 @@
 #include "test_utils/async.h"
 #include "test_utils/test.h"
 
+#include <seastar/core/circular_buffer.hh>
+
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <chrono>
+#include <ranges>
 
 using namespace raft;
 
@@ -713,3 +717,114 @@ TEST_F_CORO(raft_fixture, test_delayed_snapshot_request) {
         return nodes().begin()->second->raft()->term() > term_snapshot;
     });
 }
+
+TEST_F_CORO(raft_fixture, leadership_transfer_delay) {
+    set_election_timeout(1500ms);
+    co_await create_simple_group(4);
+    auto replicate_some_data = [&] {
+        return retry_with_leader(
+                 10s + model::timeout_clock::now(),
+                 [this](raft_node_instance& leader_node) {
+                     return leader_node.raft()->replicate(
+                       make_batches(10, 10, 128),
+                       replicate_options(consistency_level::quorum_ack));
+                 })
+          .then([&](result<replicate_result> result) {
+              if (result) {
+                  vlog(
+                    tstlog.info,
+                    "replication result last offset: {}",
+                    result.value().last_offset);
+              } else {
+                  vlog(
+                    tstlog.info,
+                    "replication error: {}",
+                    result.error().message());
+              }
+          });
+    };
+    using clock_t = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock;
+    co_await replicate_some_data();
+    struct leadership_changed_event {
+        model::node_id node;
+        leadership_status status;
+        clock_t::time_point timestamp;
+    };
+    ss::circular_buffer<leadership_changed_event> events;
+
+    register_leader_callback([&](model::node_id id, leadership_status status) {
+        events.push_back(leadership_changed_event{
+          .node = id,
+          .status = status,
+          .timestamp = clock_t::now(),
+        });
+    });
+    auto leader_id = get_leader().value();
+    auto& leader_node = node(leader_id);
+    auto current_term = leader_node.raft()->term();
+    auto r = co_await leader_node.raft()->transfer_leadership(
+      transfer_leadership_request{.group = leader_node.raft()->group()});
+    ASSERT_TRUE_CORO(r.success);
+    // here we wait for all the replicas to notify about the leadership changes,
+    // each replica will notify two times, one when there is no leader, second
+    // time when the leader is elected. We have 4 replicas so in total we expect
+    // 8 notifications to be fired.
+    co_await tests::cooperative_spin_wait_with_timeout(
+      10s, [&] { return events.size() >= 8; });
+
+    // calculate the time needed to transfer leadership, in our case it is the
+    // time between first notification reporting no leader and first reporting
+    // new leader.
+    auto new_leader_reported_ev = std::find_if(
+      events.begin(), events.end(), [&](leadership_changed_event& ev) {
+          return ev.status.current_leader.has_value()
+                 && ev.status.term > current_term;
+      });
+
+    auto transfer_time = new_leader_reported_ev->timestamp
+                         - events.begin()->timestamp;
+    vlog(
+      tstlog.info,
+      "leadership_transfer - new leader reported after: {} ms",
+      (transfer_time) / 1ms);
+    events.clear();
+    // now remove the current leader from the raft group
+    leader_id = get_leader().value();
+    auto new_nodes = all_vnodes() | std::views::filter([&](vnode n) {
+                         return n.id() != leader_id;
+                     });
+    auto& new_leader_node = node(leader_id);
+    current_term = new_leader_node.raft()->term();
+    co_await new_leader_node.raft()->replace_configuration(
+      std::vector<vnode>{new_nodes.begin(), new_nodes.end()},
+      model::revision_id(2));
+    // analogically to the previous case we wait for 6 notifications as
+    // currently the group has only 3 replicas
+    co_await tests::cooperative_spin_wait_with_timeout(
+      10s, [&] { return events.size() >= 6; });
+
+    auto leader_reported_after_reconfiguration = std::find_if(
+      events.begin(), events.end(), [&](leadership_changed_event& ev) {
+          return ev.status.current_leader.has_value()
+                 && ev.status.term > current_term;
+      });
+
+    auto election_time = leader_reported_after_reconfiguration->timestamp
+                         - events.begin()->timestamp;
+    vlog(
+      tstlog.info,
+      "reconfiguration - new leader reported after: {} ms",
+      (election_time) / 1ms);
+
+    for (auto& vn : all_vnodes()) {
+        co_await stop_node(vn.id());
+    }
+
+    auto tolerance = 0.15;
+    /**
+     * Validate that election time  after reconfiguration is simillar to the
+     * time needed for leadership transfer
+     */
+    ASSERT_LE_CORO(election_time, transfer_time * (1.0 + tolerance));
+    ASSERT_GE_CORO(election_time, transfer_time * (1.0 - tolerance));
+}
diff --git a/src/v/raft/tests/raft_fixture.cc b/src/v/raft/tests/raft_fixture.cc
index 121a28f519cc9..bf9cdf64b2a64 100644
--- a/src/v/raft/tests/raft_fixture.cc
+++ b/src/v/raft/tests/raft_fixture.cc
@@ -362,27 +362,18 @@ raft_node_instance::raft_node_instance(
   raft_node_map& node_map,
   ss::sharded<features::feature_table>& feature_table,
   leader_update_clb_t leader_update_clb,
-  bool enable_longest_log_detection)
-  : _id(id)
-  , _revision(revision)
-  , _logger(test_log, fmt::format("[node: {}]", _id))
-  , _base_directory(fmt::format(
-      "test_raft_{}_{}", _id, random_generators::gen_alphanum_string(12)))
-  , _protocol(ss::make_shared<in_memory_test_protocol>(node_map, _logger))
-  , _features(feature_table)
-  , _recovery_mem_quota([] {
-      return raft::recovery_memory_quota::configuration{
-        .max_recovery_memory = config::mock_binding<std::optional<size_t>>(
-          200_MiB),
-        .default_read_buffer_size = config::mock_binding<size_t>(128_KiB),
-      };
-  })
-  , _recovery_scheduler(
-      config::mock_binding<size_t>(64), config::mock_binding(10ms))
-  , _leader_clb(std::move(leader_update_clb))
-  , _enable_longest_log_detection(enable_longest_log_detection) {
-    config::shard_local_cfg().disable_metrics.set_value(true);
-}
+  bool enable_longest_log_detection,
+  std::chrono::milliseconds election_timeout)
+  : raft_node_instance(
+    id,
+    revision,
+    fmt::format(
+      "test_raft_{}_{}", _id, random_generators::gen_alphanum_string(12)),
+    node_map,
+    feature_table,
+    std::move(leader_update_clb),
+    enable_longest_log_detection,
+    election_timeout) {}
 
 raft_node_instance::raft_node_instance(
   model::node_id id,
@@ -391,7 +382,8 @@ raft_node_instance::raft_node_instance(
   raft_node_map& node_map,
   ss::sharded<features::feature_table>& feature_table,
   leader_update_clb_t leader_update_clb,
-  bool enable_longest_log_detection)
+  bool enable_longest_log_detection,
+  std::chrono::milliseconds election_timeout)
   : _id(id)
   , _revision(revision)
   , _logger(test_log, fmt::format("[node: {}]", _id))
@@ -408,14 +400,16 @@ raft_node_instance::raft_node_instance(
   , _recovery_scheduler(
       config::mock_binding<size_t>(64), config::mock_binding(10ms))
   , _leader_clb(std::move(leader_update_clb))
-  , _enable_longest_log_detection(enable_longest_log_detection) {
+  , _enable_longest_log_detection(enable_longest_log_detection)
+  , _election_timeout(
+      config::mock_binding<std::chrono::milliseconds>(election_timeout)) {
     config::shard_local_cfg().disable_metrics.set_value(true);
 }
 
 ss::future<>
 raft_node_instance::initialise(std::vector<raft::vnode> initial_nodes) {
     _hb_manager = std::make_unique<heartbeat_manager>(
-      config::mock_binding<std::chrono::milliseconds>(50ms),
+      config::mock_binding<std::chrono::milliseconds>(_election_timeout() / 10),
       consensus_client_protocol(_protocol),
       _id,
       config::mock_binding<std::chrono::milliseconds>(1000ms),
@@ -599,8 +593,14 @@ raft_fixture::add_node(model::node_id id, model::revision_id rev) {
       rev,
       *this,
       _features,
-      [id, this](leadership_status lst) { _leaders_view[id] = lst; },
-      _enable_longest_log_detection);
+      [id, this](leadership_status lst) {
+          _leaders_view[id] = lst;
+          if (_leader_clb) {
+              _leader_clb.value()(id, lst);
+          }
+      },
+      _enable_longest_log_detection,
+      _election_timeout);
 
     auto [it, success] = _nodes.emplace(id, std::move(instance));
     return *it->second;
@@ -614,8 +614,14 @@ raft_node_instance& raft_fixture::add_node(
       std::move(base_dir),
       *this,
       _features,
-      [id, this](leadership_status lst) { _leaders_view[id] = lst; },
-      _enable_longest_log_detection);
+      [id, this](leadership_status lst) {
+          _leaders_view[id] = lst;
+          if (_leader_clb) {
+              _leader_clb.value()(id, lst);
+          }
+      },
+      _enable_longest_log_detection,
+      _election_timeout);
 
     auto [it, success] = _nodes.emplace(id, std::move(instance));
     return *it->second;
diff --git a/src/v/raft/tests/raft_fixture.h b/src/v/raft/tests/raft_fixture.h
index a134efb69b85c..a85af5f19c623 100644
--- a/src/v/raft/tests/raft_fixture.h
+++ b/src/v/raft/tests/raft_fixture.h
@@ -168,7 +168,8 @@ class raft_node_instance : public ss::weakly_referencable<raft_node_instance> {
       raft_node_map& node_map,
       ss::sharded<features::feature_table>& feature_table,
       leader_update_clb_t leader_update_clb,
-      bool enable_longest_log_detection);
+      bool enable_longest_log_detection,
+      std::chrono::milliseconds election_timeout);
 
     raft_node_instance(
       model::node_id id,
@@ -176,7 +177,8 @@ class raft_node_instance : public ss::weakly_referencable<raft_node_instance> {
       raft_node_map& node_map,
       ss::sharded<features::feature_table>& feature_table,
       leader_update_clb_t leader_update_clb,
-      bool enable_longest_log_detection);
+      bool enable_longest_log_detection,
+      std::chrono::milliseconds election_timeout);
 
     raft_node_instance(const raft_node_instance&) = delete;
     raft_node_instance(raft_node_instance&&) noexcept = delete;
@@ -246,8 +248,6 @@ class raft_node_instance : public ss::weakly_referencable<raft_node_instance> {
     ss::sstring _base_directory;
     ss::shared_ptr<in_memory_test_protocol> _protocol;
     ss::sharded<storage::api> _storage;
-    config::binding<std::chrono::milliseconds> _election_timeout
-      = config::mock_binding(500ms);
     ss::sharded<features::feature_table>& _features;
     ss::sharded<coordinated_recovery_throttle> _recovery_throttle;
     recovery_memory_quota _recovery_mem_quota;
@@ -257,12 +257,15 @@ class raft_node_instance : public ss::weakly_referencable<raft_node_instance> {
     ss::lw_shared_ptr<consensus> _raft;
     bool started = false;
     bool _enable_longest_log_detection;
+    config::binding<std::chrono::milliseconds> _election_timeout;
 };
 
 class raft_fixture
   : public seastar_test
   , public raft_node_map {
 public:
+    using leader_update_clb_t
+      = ss::noncopyable_function<void(model::node_id, leadership_status)>;
     raft_fixture()
       : _logger("raft-fixture") {}
     using raft_nodes_t = absl::
@@ -534,6 +537,14 @@ class raft_fixture
         _enable_longest_log_detection = value;
     }
 
+    void register_leader_callback(leader_update_clb_t clb) {
+        _leader_clb = std::move(clb);
+    }
+
+    void set_election_timeout(std::chrono::milliseconds timeout) {
+        _election_timeout = timeout;
+    }
+
 private:
     void validate_leaders();
 
@@ -544,6 +555,8 @@ class raft_fixture
 
     ss::sharded<features::feature_table> _features;
     bool _enable_longest_log_detection = true;
+    std::optional<leader_update_clb_t> _leader_clb;
+    std::chrono::milliseconds _election_timeout = 500ms;
 };
 
 std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& o, msg_type type);