Manoj Agarwal, who currently serves as West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer, is appointed Chief Secretary of the state, according to an official order cited by multiple outlets. The appointment is made in the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government. Agarwal, an IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre (1990 batch), previously led the Election Commission-mandated Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise ahead of the assembly elections. The SIR exercise results in the removal of about 91 lakh voters from the electoral rolls, as reported in the sources.
The order also names incumbent Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala as Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi. It further states that Nandini Chakravorty is removed from the position of the state’s top bureaucrat and that Nariala is elevated to Chief Secretary of West Bengal by the Election Commission. One report also notes the political context, saying the BJP comes to power in West Bengal for the first time after defeating the Trinamool Congress in the assembly elections, winning 207 of 294 seats.
