2024 Parliamentary Elections: More Bureaucrat-turned Politicians In The Fray

Names such as Mani Shankar Aiyer, Natwar Singh, Yashwant Sinha, who were all products of India’s elite civil services, come to mind when one thinks of successul bureaucrat-turned-politicians.

More recently, we have had S Jaishankar and Hardeep Singh Puri, who were career diplomats and were picked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to become ministers in his second term. Arjun Ram Meghwal, RK Singh and Ashwini Vaishnaw, also ministers in the current government, came from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

With each pasing election, more and more bureacrats have been joining politics after retiring or becoming eligible for voluntary retirement. The Lok Sabha elections of 2024, voting for which began Friday, are no exception.

More than a dozen bureaucrats have so far been nominated by various parties to contest the ongoing elections. The Secretariat looks at some of the prominent candidates.

Aparajita Sarangi, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, BJP

Already a Lok Sabha MP from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Aparajita Sarangi belongs to the 1994 batch of IAS. She took voluntary retirement in 1998 from the service when she was posted as Joint Secretary in the Rural Development Ministry.

She won the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Bhubaneswar constituency, defeating former Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik of Biju Janata Dal to get her first term in the lower house of the Indian Parliament. She has once again been given a BJP ticket from the same parliamentary seat.

Arjun Ram Meghwal, Bikaner, Rajasthan

Always attired in a colourful turban Arjun Ram Meghwal is often found seated behind Prime minister Modi in the Lok Sabha. Meghwal is considered to be one of Modi’s most trusted men. The three-term MP is contesting the election for the fourth time from Bikaner. 

Meghwal is a former bureaucrat and has been in active politics for almost more than 14 years. He was promoted to IAS from the state services. 

He entered politics after taking voluntary retirement when he was district magistrate in the Rajasthan government. Currently, he is the Law Minister in Modi’s cabinet. Meghwal is one of the prominent dalit faces of the BJP. 

Arup Patnaik, Puri, BJD, Odisha.

Arup Patnaik is a 1979 batch IPS officer who is contesting on a BJD ticket from Puri. He is fighting against BJP candidate Sambit Patra. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Patnaik lost from Bhubaneswar to Aparajita Sarangi of the BJP. 

As the police commissioner of Mumai, Patnaik was known for his ability to maintain law and order. One of the common catchphrases he used while motivating the police force is believed to have been - “pehle action…baad me section (first act to bring order, then apply the law)”.

Debashish Dhar, Birbhum, West Bengal, BJP

An IPS officer of the 2010 batch from West Bengal, Dhar resigned from service in March and joined the BJP to contest from Birbhum.

A former CBI sleuth and superintendent of police in the sensitive border district of Coochbehar, Dhar was suspended after the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. 

Banking on issues such as law and order, corruption, atrocities on women and CAA, the BJP is sniffing a chance of improving its Lok Sabha tally in the state. Currently, the party has 18 MPs from West Bengal, which sends a total of 42 members to parliament.

G Kumar Naik, Raichur, Karnataka, Congress

A former IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, G Kumar Naik is a Congress candidate for the Raichur Lok Sabha seat in the southern state of Karnataka.

An engineer by profession, Naik is a 1990 batch IAS officer. He was posted in several districts of Karnataka and he is known as an open-minded officer with innovative ideas.

He served in Raichur as deputy commissioner between 1999 and 2002 and is believed to be popular in the district. He is contesting against the BJP's sitting MP Raja Amreshwara Naik.

K Annamalai, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, BJP

A 2011-batch IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre, Annamalai was the Superintendent of Police in Chikmagalur and Udupi districts. He resigned from the police service in 2019 to join politics. An engineering graduate with an MBA from IIM Lucknow, Annamalai has been fielded as BJP's candidate from Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu.

He is being projected as one of the faces who could propel BJP's foray into Tamil Nadu. Interestingly, this is not Annamalai's first election. He fought the Tamil Nadu assembly election in 2021 and lost to DMK's R Elango for the Aravakurichi seat. BJP sees him as its star pracharak and he speaks Hindi fluently.

Parampal Kaur Sidhu, Bhatinda, Punjab, BJP

Parampal Kaur Sidhu, a 2011 batch IAS officer from the Punjab cadre, recently resigned and joined the BJP. She has been fielded from the Bhatinda Lok Sabha constituency.

Kaur is the daughter-in-law of Sikandar Singh Maluka, a senior leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The SAD was a part of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but parted ways during the state assembly polls in 2022.

Kaur would be fighting against Harsimarat Kaur Badal of SAD, who is three-time MP from Bhatinda, married to SAD leader and former deputy chief minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal. 

Prasun Banarjee, Malda (North), Trinamool Congress, West Bengal.

Prasun Banerjee, a former IPS officer, is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Malda (North) on a ticket from Trinamool Congress. A 2006 batch IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre, he resigned from the service earlier this year and joined the TMC. He is pitted against the sitting MP Khagen Murmu of BJP.

He chose to retire when he had six-and-a-half years of service left. Banerjee previously served as superintendent of police (SP) in South Dinajpur district and Malda. He served as deputy inspector general (DIG) of police in Balurghat and Malda, as also in the Crime Investigation Department (CID), the state investigative agency. 

R K Singh, Arrah, Bihar, BJP

Minister of Power and Renewable Energy in the Modi government, R K Singh is a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer. He is the current Lok Sabha MP from Arrah. He won the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the same seat. He was home secretary during UPA 2.

As a DM in Samastipur, Bihar he arrested senior BJP leader L K Advani during his Rath Yatra in October 1990. Nevertheless, he has been contesting the parliamentary election from the same seat, in Bihar for the very same party which Advani once led.

Saket Mishra, Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh, BJP

A former IPS officer and an investment banker Saket Mishra is contesting elections from the Lok Sabha constituency of Shravasti in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He belongs to the 1994 IPS batch.

After spending several years in police services, he resigned and chose to become a banker and settled overseas. He has studied at St Stephens College, Delhi and IIM, Kolkata. He worked with several international banking companies including Deutsche Bank, Germany before joining politics a few years ago.

Currently, he is a nominated member of the UP legislative assembly.

Shashikant Senthil, Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu, Congress

An IAS officer from the Karnataka cadre, Shashikant Senthil is trying his luck on a Congress Party ticket from the reserved seat of Thiruvallur in Tamil Nadu. Senthil resigned from the civil services in 2019 and joined the Congress party a year later in November 2020.

He said after his resignation that he left the service because of disillusionment with the way the country was run because of certain steps that the central government took including implementing the CAA.

Senthil is a 2009-batch IAS officer who quit the service when he was posted as the deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada. In Thiruvallur parliamentary constituency, he is pitted against P V Balaganapathy of the BJP.

Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar, Punjab, BJP

Till recently, Taranjit Singh Sandhu was the Ambassador of India to the US. Sandhu served as Ambassador to the United States from February 2020 to January 2024. An IFS officer from the 1988 batch, he is considered one of the most experienced diplomats in handling the super-power.

Sandhu was one of the senior officers who was instrumental in the evacuation of Indians from Ukraine when hostility broke out between the middle European nation and Russia. 

A Stephanian who holds a masters degree in international relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University,  Sandhu has served in the Indian embassies of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and Sri Lanka. The BJP has picked him to contest from Amritsar.

(Eds Note: This article will be updated periodically as more nominations are filed in the coming weeks)