West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer appointed State Chief Secretary

Manoj Kumar Agarwal, who saw the conduct of West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 as State’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), was on Monday (May 11, 2026) appointed Chief Secretary of West Bengal.

Mr. Agarwal is a 1990 batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre and held several important posts before being appointed the CEO. During his tenure as the CEO, Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was held in West Bengal, which saw around 91 lakh voters removed from the electoral rolls.

While Mr. Agarwal drew praise from several quarters for holding polls without any violence and threats, questions were raised about the conduct of elections with lakhs of voters being unable to exercise their right to vote.

Incumbent Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala was named Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi, in the State government notification order issued on Monday.

The decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party government under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to elevate the CEO to the top post in the State raised questions in the political circles. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Sagarika Ghose described the development “outrageous and brazen”.

“Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal will now be Bengal Chief Secretary. The so-called ‘neutral umpire’ is rewarded with the post of top bureaucrat of the @BJP4India dispensation in Bengal. Does anyone still SERIOUSLY believe #bengalelections2026 were free and fair ?” Ms. Ghose posted on social media.

Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale also spoke about the elevation of Mr. Agarwal and said the “BJP and the EC are now being open about stealing the election. Are the courts BLIND or COMPLICIT? This is beyond shameless”.

On Saturday, the day Mr. Adhikari was sworn in, he appointed retired IAS officer Subarta Gupta as his adviser. Mr. Gupta was appointed special roll observer by the Election Commission and with Mr. Agarwal, he played an important role in the conduct of West Bengal Assembly elections 2026.

Services terminated

In another notification on Monday, the West Bengal government terminated tenures of “nominated members/directors/chairpersons of different boards, organisations under all departments of the State government”. The notification also said services of officials who were engaged as re-employment/ extension of services beyond normal age of superannuation of 60 years in different departments of the State government would stand terminated.

On Monday, Mr. Adhikari met several senior officials of the West Bengal government at Nabanna and told them that they could freely express their views. The Chief Minister suggested officials against the use of the word “anuprerona (inspiration)” which was used by officials during the Mamata Banerjee-led government. In the past 15 years, all decisions of the West Bengal government were attributed to the “inspiration” of Ms. Banerjee.