Suvendu govt appoints Bengal top poll officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal as chief secretary

NEW DELHI: West Bengal government on Monday appointed chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, who was top official in a the state responsible for overseeing and conducting elections, chief secreatary of the Suvendu-led dispensation.The chief secretary is the top bureaucrat of a state government and the senior-most IAS officer, responsible for coordinating all departments and advising the chief minister.Forty-eight hours after he was relieved by the election commission as the special observer on May 7, Gupta was already appointed adviser to chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday. The appointment order came within hours after Adhikari took oath as CM at a ceremony at Brigade Parade Grounds.The state also appointed IAS officer Shantanu Bala as the CM's private secretary. Bala, a 2017-batch IAS officer, earlier served as additional district magistrate of South 24 Parganas.The notification on appointing Gupta, issued from Nabanna, stated that the appointment was made "in the interest of public service" and will remain effective until further orders.On Gupta's appointment, CM Adhikari said, "In the earlier govt, efficient and impartial officers were not given any work and had to leave the state (for central deputation). We want to give these efficient officers a chance to work for people. We want to bring back these officers."Gupta was earlier appointed by the EC as special roll observer during the SIR exercise. Following EC's reported satisfaction with his role during SIR, he was later entrusted with responsibilities as special observer for the assembly poll. The 2026 assembly poll was largely peaceful, with no reported deaths during the election process and no major allegations of booth capturing or large-scale electoral violence.Sources said Adhikari met Gupta after the completion of the election process and held extensive talks with him. During the meeting, Adhikari offered him the position of adviser, sources added.Gupta, a PhD from IIT-Kharagpur, served as DM of Jalpaiguri and Burdwan. He also served as an executive director and later MD in the WBIDC from 2007 to 2011, a period marked by Tata Motors' unceremonious exit from Singur.