As ex-IPS officer joins BJP, Akhilesh urges EC to take action

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav will request the election commission to remove all officers who worked with former IPS officer Asim Arun for the last five years to ensure they don’t influence the Uttar Pradesh election.

Arun joined the BJP on Sunday (January 16), days after taking voluntary retirement from service. “BJP gave me a suggestion to join politics to contribute more towards social work. There is a lot that I couldn’t do during my job tenure, so I decided to enter politics. I am also impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has given a new path of development,” he claimed.

“We will ask the election commission that in the last five years, all the officers who worked with Asim Arun be removed or else they will influence the elections,” Yadav said.

“There is an example now before the EC on how much of a connection an officer can have with a party. He [Arun] was a member of the BJP, both must have had talks, decided on giving a ticket [to him] too and yet he was made the commissioner,” the SP chief said.

“If the EC doesn’t act against them, then questions will arise on it, and we will believe that the [commission] is not working impartially,” Yadav said.