Kerala: From the first woman to become an IPS officer in Kerala in 1987 to the state’s first woman to ascend to DGP rank in 2017, R. Sreelekha has many firsts to her credit in a public service career spanning over 33 years.
She is also credited with reducing road fatalities during her tenure as transport commissioner, though the change was also due to policy measures. She also earned the moniker “Raid Sreelekha” for her high-visibility operations while on deputation with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Five years post her retirement, Sreelekha is now ready to test the waters in politics. In the upcoming local body polls, the 1987-batch Kerala cadre officer will contest from Thiruvananthapuram’s Sasthamangalam ward. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded her, a year after she joined the party.
Her stint with the BJP also assumes significance, as she had a strained relationship with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government towards the end of her service. Sreelekha had spoken out about systemic gender discrimination in her career and even skipped a formal farewell on her last day in service.
Speaking to ThePrint about her foray into electoral politics, Sreelekha said her candidacy sends a positive message to the people.
“This is historic. Nowhere else has a retired IPS officer been fielded for Panchayat polls. I think only the BJP can do it. It’s an opportunity for me to show the people that the BJP wants a senior-ranking officer to work at the grassroots,” she said.
A victory would mark the beginning of her political career. Her candidacy is crucial for the BJP as well. The party has been working hard to wrest control of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and increase its vote share in the state.
Several BJP leaders ThePrint spoke with said that the party high command and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are directly monitoring the local body elections this time.
In Kerala, the BJP is yet to see major success in statewide elections. It, however, aims to secure 25 percent of the vote share in the upcoming Panchayat polls, according to party insiders. These elections are being seen as a curtain-raiser before next year’s state assembly polls.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance secured 19.24 percent of the votes in Kerala. It also marked its first-ever Lok Sabha win in the state, from Thrissur. Now, it is looking to increase its footprint in the southern state.
State-based political analyst K.P. Sethunath, sharing his opinion, however, said that the retired IPS officer might not be able to make a significant impact.
“She doesn’t have much influence among the BJP cadre or the public. Hence, she may not, eventually, create much impact. But she is taking this election as a prestige matter and is working very hard,” Sethunath said.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also echoed this sentiment.
CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan told the media that the party is banking on its popular candidates, who have already been working among the people.
“Whoever it is, MLA or DGP, it doesn’t matter. CPI(M)’s candidates know the people and their problems,” he said.
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Sreelekha’s campaign
Retired in 2020, Sreelekha joined the BJP in October 2024, in the presence of then State party president K. Surendran. She is the third retired IPS officer from Kerala to join the BJP post-retirement. Before her, former DGP Jacob Thomas joined the BJP in 2021, and T.P. Senkumar in 2017.
“All three IPS officers joined the party as they were well aware of the misgovernance of the LDF and UDF governments, here. Once they joined, they worked as ordinary cadres,” declared Sreevaraha Vijayan, the BJP vice-president in Thiruvananthapuram.
Fielded from Thiruvananthapuram’s Sasthamangalam ward, Sreelekha, along with local party functionaries, kicked off her campaign on 12 November.
The leader has maintained her calm demeanour while visiting voters door-to-door. She often begins with a brief introduction as the BJP’s candidate.
“We don’t need an introduction from you. I was very happy to see you contesting. I thought you would go for the assembly polls. This is a chance for you to serve. You will win,” said a voter as she entered their house.
Sreelekha said that she did not find much difference between her previous career and her current political work, except for the uniform, and that she had been receiving a warm welcome from many homes.
“Earlier, I was wearing khaki. Now it’s saffron, that’s it,” she said, adding that as a political leader, she would now be able to work directly for the people at the grassroots.
She said ahead of the Panchayat polls, the party was highlighting the need for a corruption-free administration, overall social and infrastructural development, and the use of technology for civic issues, such as road infrastructure and waste management.
Managalath Manoj, a local BJP functionary involved in her district campaign, told ThePrint the party was confident of her victory as Sreelekha “doesn’t need any introduction”.
Manoj further said that the BJP, with its 35 councillors in the 100-ward Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, is also actively involved in local district matters, and that boosts the party workers’ confidence.
Career & controversies
In her 33-year career, Sreelekha is most remembered for her tenure as the transport commissioner. Between 2013 and 2015, the department was credited with earning more revenue and recording fewer road casualties.
Beyond the transport department, she has also served as an additional director general of police in the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau, as a DGP heading the Kerala Fire & Rescue Services, and as the superintendent of police and deputy inspector general of police in several districts.
But her career was not without controversy.
In 2016, Sreelekha wrote in a Facebook post that now-retired IPS officer Tomin Thachankary had been troubling her for 29 years and colluding to get a vigilance case filed against her over an alleged tax fraud.
Sreelekha again drew attention in 2022, when she said in a Malayalam Manorama interview that she had done favours for actor Dileep, when he was in prison in 2017 for allegedly assaulting an actress. Claiming she knew the actor personally, she said the care she provided was out of kindness.
In the same interview, she alleged widespread sexual harassment faced by women police officers in the system. She also said that she had intervened to save a woman officer from a senior DGP. Sreelekha added that she herself had faced gender-based discrimination and disobedience from officers—behaviour which, she said, would not have happened had she been a man.
At the time, the Kerala Police Association dismissed these allegations.
“In the police, it was bad because I was the first woman IPS officer. Generally, too, women are few and not given opportunities in the mainstream. But in politics, there is nothing like that. In local body polls, there is a 50 percent reservation, and many women are walking with me from as early as 7 am for the campaign,” Sreelekha told ThePrint.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)