Chennai: As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, it is a known fact that former officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), who have dared to take a plunge into electoral politics, have not, by and large, come off with flying colours.
In the elections to the 16th Assembly, the former government officials K Annamalai and Santhosh Babu, who contested from Aravakurichi in Karur district and Velachery in Chennai respectively, could not taste success.
Though boosted by the high command of the BJP contesting the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections in an alliance with the Dravidian major AIADMK, Annamalai, former IPS officer, was defeated by a margin of 24,816 votes. He has polled 68,553 votes, recording 38.71 percentage. While thanking the voters who supported him, he said that it was one of the several failures he has had in his life.
Reacting to criticism against him on social media platforms, Annamalai said that the BJP would grow stronger in the next five years and achieve great success in the next Assembly elections due in 2026.
Critics have pointed out the BJP has gone out of its way and worked out several strategies to ensure the success of Annamalai, he was unable to strike it right.
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Likewise, the Makkal Needhi Maiam candidate Santhosh Babu, who was Tamil Nadu Information and Technology secretary and had earned the name for being behind several pioneering IT projects such as Bharat Net, could not win Velachery constituency, having just polled 23,072 votes and recording 13.06 percentage.
The calculation based on MNM’s performance in the 2019 parliamentary elections that the party has earned good support in urban areas, more particularly in Chennai has not helped Santhosh Babu. Moreover, there are complaints that the party workers have not properly performed in the election work.
During campaigning, he spoke about the stormwater drainage scheme, the major grievance of Velachery, promised to take steps for issuing land pattas and dwelt at length on the modern urban development project, he could not reach out to the people and strike the chords of their hearts. Yet he said that he would continue to work for the development of the constituency.
Likewise, MNM candidate for South Chennai in the 2019 parliamentary elections, Rangarajan, who had chucked up his IAS post for the sake of taking a plunge into politics, met with a debacle. In the 2016 Assembly elections, Sivagami, who had quit IAS post and was in the fray on the DMK ticket, could not make it to the legislative forum.
Explaining why IAS and IPS officials are unable to shine in electoral politics, Azhi Senthilnathan said, “Politics is not something involving administration alone. It is more than that. The administrators, who take a plunge into politics, talk about the possibility of providing corruption-free governance, based on their own administrative skills and acumen. But the ground reality is that administration itself does not wholly make up politics."
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"While they talk about clean administration, they do not and in fact, cannot talk about the urban-rural divide and caste-oriented, economic and educational complexities. Such people may win elections if they contest elections on the tickets of some big political parties. Otherwise, it’s tough to be in the fray as independent candidates. Another drawback is that once they get defeated in an election, they will not try again. They lack drive and determination," he said.
The fire needed for coming out of the ordeal of election with flying colors and thereby making it big in politics is missing in administrators who wear the politician’s hat only during election times and vanish after finding it a vain effort," Azhi Senthilnathan said.
