Parivarvaad: Oppn on ‘one-fifth of vacancies in UP Assembly, Council filled with kin of VIPs’

Lucknow: Following an expose by a leading English daily, according to which one fifth of the vacancies in Uttar Pradesh Assembly and Council were filled with kin of VIPs, the opposition parties have accused the BJP of ‘parivarvaad (dynastic politics)’, a charge that the ruling party has often hurled at the opposition.

According to an expose by The Indian Express at a time when aspirantss of the Provincial Civil Services and Review Officers (ROs) and Assistant Review Officers (AROs) preliminary exams, of the 186 vacancies for the posts of ROs and AROs, 38 candidates who were selected had links with officials and politicians.

An estimated 2.5 lakh aspirants had applied for the post. Their tests were held in two rounds in 2020-2021 to fill up administrative posts in the UP Legislative Assembly and UP Legislative Council.The newspaper report claimed that those who successfully made it to the coveted list included the then UP Speaker’s PRO and his brother, a former minister’s nephew, son of Legislative Council secretariat in-charge, four relatives of Legislative Assembly secretariat in-charge, son of Deputy Lokayukta, son and daughter of Department of Parliamentary Affairs in-charge and son of former OSD to two chief ministers.

When contacted, the then Speaker of the UP Assembly Hriday Narayan Dixit told news agency, “The matter is pending in the court and hence, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on this.”

Principal Secretary to the UP Assembly Pradeep Dubey could not be contacted for comments despite repeated efforts.