In UP, line between executive and legislature blurs as officers take to politics

Lucknow: It is the taste of power and an urge to remain at the centre stage of the system that has made bureaucrats take a plunge into politics after retirement.

The trend is catching on and more and more officers are trying their luck in politics.

A K Sharma, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer, joined the BJP in 2021.

Sharma's transition from bureaucracy to politics marked a significant shift and he became a member of the Vidhan Parishad and was then elevated as minister in the UP government in 2023.

Aseem Arun, a IPS officer, quit service to join politics and he won the assembly polls from Kannauj. He is now a minister in the Yogi government.

Rajeshwar Singh, a PPS officer of the 1996 batch and former joint director of enforcement directorate also took VRS last year and successfully contested the Sarojini Nagar assembly seat in Lucknow in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections.

A 1977-batch IPS officer and former UP DGP Brij Lal also took to politics after retirement in 2014 and joined the BJP. He is now a member of Rajya Sabha.

Former Mumbai police commissioner and 1980-batch IPS officer Satya Pal Singh, who opted for VRS in 2014 won Lok Sabha election from Baghpat twice in 2014 and 2019 and went on to serve as a minister in the Narendra Modi government.

Earlier, PL Punia, a Dalit IAS officer, joined the Congress after retirement in 2005 and won the Barabanki Lok Sabha seat in the 2009 elections. He remains one of the frontline leaders of UP Congress.

Retired IAS officer Kunwar Fateh Bahadur joined the BSP but did not contest an election. He was considered close to Mayawati.

Sitting BSP MP from Jaunpur, Shyam Singh Yadav, is a former PCS officer of 1982 batch who joined BSP just before the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Former chief engineer in PWD, Tribhuvan Ram, also took voluntary retirement in 2011 to join the BSP. He was elected to Vidhan Sabha and later joined the BJP in 2019.

IAS officer Devi Dayal, who retired in 2001, joined the Congress and contested Lok Sabha election from Bulandshahr in 2009 but lost.

Some bureaucrats, who could not find an entry into other political parties, formed their own parties.

Former IAS officer Chandrapal formed Adarsh Samaj Party and Tapendra Prasad, former PCS, formed Samyak Party. Both could not make much headway in politics.

Retired IPS officer Amitabh Thakur has formed his own Jan Adhikar Sena while retired DGP Sulkhan Singh, who was the first DGP in the Yogi government, has recently formed the Bundelkhand Loktantrik Party (BLP).

The trend of officers taking to politics began after the demolition of disputed structure in Ayodhya when the then SSP of Faizabad Devendra Bahadur Roy joined politics and won Lok Sabha elections from Sultanpur seat in 1996 and 1998 as a BJP candidate.

Samajwadi Party's Ahmad Hasan, who retired as a DIG in 1994, also made it to the Samajwadi Party and Mulayam Singh Yadav appointed him as an MLC in 1996.

Union minister Satya Pal Singh Baghel was a police sub-inspector who quit the service in 1996 and went on to become a four-time MP, shifting political allegiances from BSP to SP and eventually finding a home in the BJP. He is now a candidate from Agra.

A 1972-batch IPS officer, SR Darapuri, took to politics after his retirement as inspector general of police in 2003 and formed his political outfit. He contested from Lucknow in 2004 and then again in 2014 from Robertsganj constituency but lost both times.

In 2004, Shailendra Singh, a 1991-batch officer and deputy SP in the Special Task Force (STF), quit his job after falling out with the then SP govt over the arrest of mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari.

He contested the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Varanasi as an independent candidate but lost and his political career failed to take off.

Another officer Gyan Singh, who retired from the post of DIG in home guards in 2013, joined the BJP in 2015 while former DG (home guards), Surya Kumar Shukla, who retired from the services in 2018, joined the BJP. Both are waiting for their turn in politics.

BSP has fielded retired police officer Shubh Narayan Gautam from Kaushambhi in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.