Chhattisgarh: Policeman floats political party, to contest upcoming assembly polls

A Chhattisgarh policeman, who has led many protests of cops’ families to press for their various demands, has floated a political party and plans to field its candidates in all 90 constituencies in the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

Constable Ujjawal Diwan, posted in Dhamtari district, said suspended, expelled and retired policemen have joined the outfit and several other cops would be a part of it after quitting their jobs.

After facing challenges in registering a new political party, Diwan and his associates decided to take over ‘Azad Janata Party’, an already registered outfit.

Diwan, who is the state president of AJP, said he has been fighting for the welfare of policemen and their families since 2018.

“Several cases were lodged against me and I even had to go to jail. Now I don’t have faith in any political party. Therefore, we decided to establish our own party and contest polls. Our aim is to ensure justice to every victimised person in the state,” he said.

The constable said he tendered his resignation in 2021 but the department is yet to accept it.

He can contest the election only after his resignation is accepted, he said.

Sanjeev Mishra, a suspended police constable who has been appointed as the state spokesperson of the party, said they applied for the registration of a new party but there were some objections over its name.

So they decided to take over AJP, he said, adding that they will field candidates in all 90 assembly constituencies in the upcoming assembly elections.

Mishra said he was suspended last year and he submitted his resignation though authorities have not yet accepted it.

Diwan said they will use crowdfunding to arrange for resources to run the party.

He said victimised police personnel like him, those who have been unilaterally expelled from service or have taken voluntary retirement have joined his party.

He claims to have the support of over 80,000 families of policemen and 4.5 lakh contractual employees working in state government departments.

The families of policemen from the lower ranks from different parts of the state have staged several protests in the last five years over their demands including higher salaries, weekly offs, government quarters for all jawans and response allowance.