New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in West Bengal on Monday appointed Manoj Kumar Agarwal as the state’s chief secretary, less than two days after retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta was named adviser to newly sworn-in Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer, had overseen the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and the conduct of the Assembly elections in the state while serving as West Bengal’s chief electoral officer and ex officio additional chief secretary in the Home and Hill Affairs (Election) Department, The Wire reported.
According to the official notification, the appointment was made on the orders of Governor R. N. Ravi in the interest of public service. The notification stated that Agarwal would serve as chief secretary until further orders.
Gupta was reportedly appointed as adviser to the chief minister only hours after Adhikari’s swearing-in ceremony on May 9, shortly after he was relieved by the Election Commission of India from his role in the SIR exercise. Observers noted that the appointments of Gupta and Agarwal created a significant overlap of administrative and electoral influence in the state.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Agarwal is regarded as one of the senior-most and most experienced bureaucrats in the state administration. According to a report by The New Indian Express, several officers from his batch remain in service, but Agarwal emerged as the frontrunner for the top bureaucratic position because of his handling of major administrative responsibilities over the years.
The SIR exercise had attracted criticism and allegations of distorting the electoral process after around 91 lakh names were reportedly removed from voter rolls, while nearly 27 lakh voters were left awaiting decisions regarding their voting rights and were unable to cast ballots in the elections.
Targeting former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in a post on X, the BJP claimed, “Unlike former CM Mamata Banerjee, who had subverted the bureaucracy by blatantly flouting the rules governing the IAS by superseding dozens of officers, the BJP Government of West Bengal has appointed the senior most IAS officer working in the state, Shri Manoj Agarwal, as the Chief Secretary of West Bengal in keeping with its promise to restore the dignity of the laws of the land.”
Before the elections, the All India Trinamool Congress government had criticised Agarwal’s role in the SIR process, alleging bias and accusing him of acting in favour of the BJP. The party had also referred to a 2009 CBI investigation against the officer in connection with alleged disproportionate assets worth Rs 1.46 crore under the Prevention of Corruption Act.