Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal appointed chief secretary of Suvendu govt

West Bengal's appointment of Manoj Agarwal, the former Chief Electoral Officer, as the new Chief Secretary has ignited a political firestorm, raising concerns about the fairness and impartiality of the state's electoral processes.

West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal was appointed the chief secretary of the Suvendu Adhikari-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, according to an official order issued on Monday.

Agarwal, a 1990-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the West Bengal cadre, helmed the Election Commission-mandated Special Intensive Revision exercise in the state in the run-up to the assembly polls in which around 91 lakh voters were removed from the electoral rolls.

Controversial Appointment Sparks Political Row

His appointment as chief secretary comes within 48 hours of the EC's special roll observer Subrata Gupta being named as the advisor to Suvendu Adhikari, recalibrating the chief minister's closest administrative circle with former poll body top brass.

Agarwal's appointment elicited a sharp reaction from the Trinamool Congress, which questioned the neutrality of the electoral process during the recently concluded assembly polls.

Incumbent Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala was named Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi, the order stated.

Nariala, a 1993-batch IAS, was named the chief secretary of West Bengal by the poll body, removing Nandini Chakravorty from the position of the state's top bureaucrat.

TMC Alleges Election Impropriety

Reacting to Agarwal's appointment, TMC former Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale alleged that the BJP and the Election Commission were 'now being open about stealing the election'.

He also questioned whether 'the courts are blind or complicit', calling the development 'beyond shame'.

Senior TMC leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien reacted sarcastically to the appointment, saying in a social media post: 'Purely a coincidence, surely!'

Party MP Sagarika Ghose said the appointment of the former CEO as chief secretary under the BJP dispensation 'undermines the credibility of the electoral process'.

She described the development as 'outrageous and brazen' and questioned whether anyone could still believe the Bengal elections were 'free and fair'.

Agarwal's Career and Contributions

An IIT Kanpur alumnus, 59-year-old Agarwal has had a distinguished administrative career, serving in several key departments of the West Bengal government, including Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Food, Fire and Emergency Services, and Forest, while also handling important positions at the Centre, officials said.

He also served as the chairman of the State Highways Authority, planning the crucial elevated corridor over Kona Expressway, a major infrastructure upgrade designed to ease traffic congestion, featuring a six-lane elevated, signal-free path. As of now, the 7.8 km project, aimed at streamlining connectivity to the Kolkata port, is under construction.

Kona Expressway is the arterial thoroughfare connecting Kolkata to the Delhi-bound National Highway 19 and the Mumbai-joining NH 16.

Controversies During Previous Roles

During his stint as the Principal Secretary of the state Food and Supplies Department, Agarwal had mandated that the distribution of food coupons through the state's Public Distribution System during the COVID-19 pandemic be handled by government officers instead of public representatives of the ruling dispensation.

His stand allegedly did not go down well with the erstwhile TMC brass.

Agarwal was subsequently shifted to the state forest department, only to make a dramatic return to his most high-profile posting as CEO of West Bengal.

There, he took charge of the crucial -- and fiercely debated -- SIR exercise, hailed by the BJP as an 'essential electoral roll clean-up drive' but denounced by the TMC as a calculated bid to 'disenfranchise legitimate voters at the BJP's behest'.

Although Agarwal is set to retire in July this year, sources in the state secretariat indicated that he is almost certain to receive an extension, underscoring the BJP government's confidence in him to steer and oversee the implementation of key public policies under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's maiden regime in Bengal.

The BJP came to power for the first time in the state after handing a stunning defeat to the Trinamool Congress. The saffron party secured 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, reducing the TMC to 80 seats.