Former IAS officer Divya Mittal announces new party, to contest 2027 Uttar Pradesh polls

Former IAS officer Divya Mittal announced her political party, Jan Neeti Bharat, on Thursday (October 15, 2026), over a month after she opted for voluntary retirement from service, and said it will contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

In a video message on X, Ms. Mittal said the party will focus on making people central to policymaking and ensuring that the government remains accountable to them throughout its five-year term and not just on election day.

"Politics rules over you. In Jan Neeti, you will be the ones who rule," she said, announcing the party's name and its decision to contest the state polls due early next year.

Ms. Mittal, an alumna of IIT Delhi, IIM Bengaluru and a former Wall Street trader, resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) after a 13-year career on August 30. She announced her entry into politics on September 29.

She said her appeal to people to enter politics received an overwhelming response, with many sending messages to a phone number she shared.

Explaining the rationale behind announcing a new party, Ms. Mittal said, "The problem is not a shortage of parties; the problem is a lack of people being heard. Some people are heard, but not everyone."

She claimed that unlike the existing arrangement, in which legislators often act as intermediaries between the government and the public, Jan Neeti Bharat representatives will have to remain accountable to the citizens.

She said necessary reforms have not been implemented not because of technological limitations but because they threaten established power structures. "Political parties might appear to compete with one another, but agree on keeping decision-making out of the hands of ordinary people," she said.

She said Jan Neeti Bharat lacks the money needed for extensive advertising and will instead rely on a door-to-door campaign, with every household serving as an office and every supporter acting as a campaigner.

Inviting people to call her to their villages and towns, she urged them to share her message with three people and promote the slogan, "Not politics, but Jan Neeti".

Ms. Mittal was serving as the special secretary in the Revenue Department in Lucknow when she tendered her resignation. She had earlier served as the district magistrate in Deoria, Mirzapur and Sant Kabir Nagar.

During her tenure as Mirzapur district magistrate, she gained attention after tap water was brought to Lahuriadah, a remote hill village in Halia block, 75 years after independence.

Locals remember her tenure in Deoria for her efforts to implement government schemes at the grassroots level and for her decisive administrative actions.