Manoj Kumar Agarwal appointed top bureaucrat of new Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal

Manoj Kumar Agarwal, who oversaw the recent West Bengal Assembly elections as the state’s chief electoral officer, was on Monday appointed the new chief secretary of the state government.

Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, received praise for conducting a largely violence-free election but also faced criticism over allegations of large-scale disenfranchisement during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls carried out under his tenure.

His appointment came two days after Suvendu Adhikari took oath as chief minister and allocated portfolios to the five ministers inducted into his cabinet.

In an official notification, the state government said: “The Governor is pleased to appoint Shri Manoj Kumar Agarwal, IAS (WB:1990), Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal and ex officio Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Hill Affairs (Election) Department, as Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal until further orders.”

Agarwal replaces Dushyant Nariala, a 1993-batch IAS officer who had been appointed by the Election Commission ahead of the Assembly polls on March 15. Nariala has now been posted as West Bengal’s resident commissioner in New Delhi.

Nariala had earlier succeeded Nandini Chakravorty, who became the state’s first woman chief secretary after being appointed by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in December 2025.

Agarwal formally assumed charge on Monday and was seen seated beside Adhikari during the chief minister’s first meeting with senior IAS officers after taking office. He did not speak to the media.

The chief secretary is the top bureaucratic post in the state administration and is responsible for coordinating the functioning of various government departments.

The development also marks the second appointment of an official linked to the recent elections by the new Bharatiya Janata Party government. On Saturday, the administration named former Election Commission special observer Subrata Gupta as adviser to the chief minister shortly after the new government assumed office.

The BJP came to power in West Bengal for the first time after securing a sweeping victory in the Assembly elections, winning 207 seats in the 294-member House and reducing the All India Trinamool Congress to 80 seats.