As ex-IAS officer Divya Mittal launches party, how 5 others fared in politics: Kejriwal made it, Shah Faesal returned

Divya Mittal has become the latest civil servant in the article to move into politics. She launched Jan Neeti Bharat on Thursday and says the party plans to contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Her move matters because leaving public service is only the first step; building a political organisation and winning support are much harder.

Mittal’s resignation took effect on September 15, after 13 years in the service. She explained her decision in personal terms: “Everything was available, but there was no intent.” That statement describes her frustration with the system and her belief that political action could offer a better route to change.

Her next challenge is turning that conviction into a working party. The article does not give details about Jan Neeti Bharat’s structure, candidates or electoral support. Her experience will therefore test whether administrative credibility and a strong reason for leaving can become a durable political movement.

The article compares six officers in all: Divya Mittal and five others who left government service for politics. Their stories show that entering politics produces no single result. Some gain office or party leadership, while others remain stuck in administrative uncertainty or move into new forms of political activity.

Arvind Kejriwal became AAP national convener and previously served as Delhi chief minister. Sasikanth Senthil won a Lok Sabha seat and became a Congress MP. Kannan Gopinathan joined the Congress but says his resignation remains unprocessed. K Annamalai left the BJP’s Tamil Nadu leadership and began building a new movement. Shah Faesal abandoned politics and returned to government service. Mittal has just launched her own party.

These outcomes underline the article’s central point. A compelling reason to resign can attract attention, but it does not guarantee a seat, a party, or a second career. Organisation, timing, voter support and official procedures also shape what follows.

Civil services are government services in which officials administer public programmes, enforce rules and manage state institutions. Officers such as IAS, IPS and Indian Revenue Service officials work within government rather than as elected politicians. Moving from these services into politics means shifting from appointed administration to campaigning, party work and seeking voter support.

Political parties may value former officers because they bring experience of how government works. The article specifically says parties have long courted them for their administrative credentials and clean image. That background can make them appear capable, disciplined and connected to public problems. It can also help parties present a candidate as different from a conventional career politician.

Yet those advantages are not enough by themselves. Kejriwal built a national party, and Senthil won a parliamentary seat, but Gopinathan remains unable to contest while his resignation is unresolved. The contrast shows that administrative experience must still be converted into organisation, public trust and electoral support.

Arvind Kejriwal’s path began outside electoral politics. He resigned from the Indian Revenue Service in 2006 to work full time on citizens’ rights. That same year, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his work on the right to information. His case matters because the movement came before the party, rather than a party simply recruiting him.

Six years after resigning, Kejriwal launched the Aam Aadmi Party from an anti-corruption movement targeting the UPA government. The movement supplied an issue, public visibility and an initial support base. AAP then converted that energy into elections, winning 67 of Delhi’s 70 seats in 2015, about 96 per cent. Kejriwal served as chief minister until 2024.

Kejriwal remains AAP’s national convener, a post he has held since 2012, and was unanimously re-elected on September 9. The party lost power in Delhi in 2025, but his trajectory remains the article’s benchmark for turning activism into lasting party leadership and electoral power.

The four officers followed sharply different paths after leaving government service. Their cases show that political entry can lead to elected office, party work, an unresolved administrative status or withdrawal from politics. The outcomes depend on more than the reason each officer gave for resigning.

Sasikanth Senthil joined the Congress, ran its Karnataka and national war rooms, and won Tiruvallur in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Kannan Gopinathan joined the Congress in October 2025 but says the Centre has still not processed his 2019 resignation. K Annamalai, after joining the BJP and serving as its Tamil Nadu president, left that role and is building a new movement. Shah Faesal returned to government service.

Their different positions underline the article’s main lesson. Senthil gained a parliamentary seat through party organisation and cadre support. Gopinathan remains unable to contest, according to his account. Annamalai is still building, while Faesal chose a government career again. None of these paths followed a standard pattern.

Resigning from government service is not always a clean or immediate break. An officer may announce a resignation, but the government still has to process it and formally release the person. Until that happens, the former officer can remain caught between public service and politics, without the freedom or status needed for a new career.

Kannan Gopinathan resigned in 2019 while serving as energy secretary in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. He cited the abrogation of Article 370, the communication blackout in Jammu and Kashmir and restrictions on freedom of expression. He later criticised the Centre, joined protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and joined the Congress on October 13, 2025.

Gopinathan said in a March post that the Centre had not processed his resignation in over six years. He says this left him without salary or release and unable to contest. He called the delay “pure harassment”; the article adds that the Centre had not publicly explained it in the reports reviewed.

Entering politics requires more than personal conviction because elections are collective contests. A former officer may have credibility and a clear reason for resigning, but must still build a party structure, reach voters, organise campaigns and secure support. The article uses five earlier cases to show that attention alone does not deliver a seat or a lasting political career.

Sasikanth Senthil joined an established Congress organisation, ran its war rooms and won Tiruvallur in 2024. After the result, he credited the cadre who campaigned and the people who supported him. Kejriwal followed another route: an anti-corruption movement came first, and AAP turned that public energy into an electoral machine. These examples show the mechanisms behind political success.

Other cases reveal the limits. Gopinathan remains unable to contest while his resignation is unresolved. Annamalai is building a new movement, and Mittal has only just launched her party. Their next steps will depend on organisation, grassroots workers, formal status and voter backing, not simply on why they left government.