VARANASI: Former IAS officer Divya Mittal on Thursday announced the launch of her political outfit, Jan Niti Bharat, which will contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.In a video message posted on X and other platforms, Mittal said, “UP will vote in 2027, and Jan Niti Bharat will contest to ensure government is working according to citizens, instead of remembering them once in five years.”She outlined three pledges for the outfit. The first is to put people at the centre of policymaking and involve them in decisions affecting their lives.“Our first pledge is to keep people at the centre of policy, and people will help decide policy. Farmers must shape farm policy, traders must shape trade policy, parents and children must shape schools, and every unheard village must be heard,” she said.Her second pledge is to ensure that public decisions are based on need rather than identity, influence, caste, religion or status.“Our second pledge is to ensure that every decision is based on need, not identity, influence, caste, religion, or status. Roads, handpumps, lights, drains, safety points, schools, and health centres must begin where people mark the greatest need. No single powerful finger should bend a road away from hundreds of homes,” she said.The third pledge focuses on transparency and accountability in public works. Mittal said citizens should be able to access details such as costs, deadlines, contractors, progress and quality on their phones.She also proposed a system allowing people to rate public services, including hospitals, ration shops, schools and streets, as green, yellow or red.A 2013-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre officer, Mittal took voluntary retirement from the IAS on August 30. Her resignation was accepted by the Central government in September, following which she had hinted at entering public life.“When I last shared a number for people, who wished to join me in public life, the response was so overwhelming that WhatsApp blocked it. I was not prepared for such faith. I began with a small lamp of hope, but your messages felt like sunlight,” she said.Mittal said the response had encouraged her to form Jan Niti Bharat, where, she said, “power does not rule over people, people shape power”.She added that the outfit’s representatives would engage directly with citizens, visit homes and help those who lacked access to phones or forms.“This movement has no big money, so every home is an office and every citizen a campaigner,” she said.An alumna of IIT Delhi and IIM Bengaluru, Mittal was last posted as special secretary in the Uttar Pradesh revenue department before stepping down after 13 years in the IAS.During her tenure as Mirzapur district magistrate in 2023, she drew attention for inaugurating a piped water supply project in Lahuria Dah, a hill village above the Dramandganj valley, rather than leaving the event to politicians.Her actions, along with her attention to opposition parties’ demands and grievances, increased her popularity. These moves were also believed to have contributed to her transfer from the district.After quitting the civil services, Mittal had made her political ambitions clear but ruled out joining an existing party. She has not announced the constituency from which she will contest, though Mirzapur is being speculated as a possible choice.
