When Constitutional Offices Become Launchpads For Political Careers

The Congress party is expressing strong disapproval over the BJP's decision to nominate Devashish Sharma, an IAS officer, to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha by-election in Nagaon, Assam. Sharma, who resigned from his position as Nagaon District Commissioner on September 3, formally joined the BJP on September 6 and was officially named its candidate for the Nagaon by-election.

In his role as District Commissioner, Sharma managed the Assam Assembly elections in eight Assembly constituencies, five of which are under the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP won two of these constituencies, while the Congress and others won the remaining three. This nomination has raised questions about whether Sharma's political career was influenced by his previous bureaucratic role.

A long list of bureaucrats, including Mani Shankar Aiyar, Ajit Jogi, PL Punia, and Yashwant Sinha, have followed a similar path of leaving their public service jobs to enter active politics. Manohar Singh Gill, an IAS officer who served as an Election Commissioner, became the Chief Election Commissioner in 1996 and later joined the Rajya Sabha on the Congress ticket.

Two Chief Election Commissioners, VS Ramadevi and TN Seshan, also joined the Congress party post-retirement. The judiciary has not been immune to such appointments either. Ranganath Misra, a former Supreme Court judge, was tasked with investigating the 1984 anti-Sikh riots while still serving on the bench. Misra was later appointed as the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission and elected to the Rajya Sabha on the Congress ticket.

These instances have sparked debates about the influence of political parties on constitutional offices and the need for safeguards to protect the independence of institutions like the Election Commission and the Supreme Court.