In a remarkable political triumph, former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sasikanth Senthil has secured the Thiruvallur Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu with an unprecedented margin of 572,165 votes.
This victory is particularly noteworthy given his high-profile resignation from the IAS in 2019, which he undertook in protest against the abrogation of Article 370, a provision that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Sasikanth Senthil, who resigned from the IAS to protest the revocation of Article 370 in 2019, has now been elected as a Member of Parliament for the Congress party, representing Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvallur constituency.
Running as a Congress candidate, Senthil defeated his closest competitor, Balaganapathy V Pon of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Senthil garnered 796,956 votes, surpassing his opponent by a margin of over 572,000 votes.
Senthil’s victory marks the largest margin in Tamil Nadu, highlighting his immense popularity and the strong support for the Congress party in the region.
A 2009 batch IAS officer from Tamil Nadu, Senthil first gained national attention when he resigned from his role as Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka. In his resignation letter, he voiced deep concerns about the state of democracy in India, stating that the “fundamental building blocks of democracy were being compromised in an unprecedented manner.”
Senthil’s resignation was a direct response to the BJP-led government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and the subsequent communication blackout in Jammu and Kashmir.
He described this move as the culmination of his growing unease with the government’s actions, which he criticized as fascist. His outspoken stance on these issues earned him both praise and criticism, solidifying his reputation as a principled and courageous public servant.
His resignation led to severe backlash, with BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde calling it treachery. Hegde suggested that Senthil and his supporters should leave India rather than divide the country, showing the intense political polarization surrounding his decision.
In 2020, Senthil joined the Congress party, quickly rising to become a significant figure within the organization. His strategic contributions were particularly noted during the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, where the Congress party achieved a decisive victory.
Born to a district judge and a government officer, Sasikanth Senthil ranked 9th in the UPSC 2009 batch and served in the Karnataka cadre. An electronics engineering graduate from Bharathidasan University, he initially worked at Polaris Inc. before joining the IAS. Senthil has personally funded a library in his native Tamil Nadu village and supported the education of underprivileged students.