Suvendu govt appoints Bengal prime ballot officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal as chief secretary | India Information
NEW DELHI: West Bengal authorities on Monday appointed chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, who was prime official in a the state chargeable for overseeing and conducting elections, chief secreatary of the Suvendu-led dispensation.The chief secretary is the highest bureaucrat of a state authorities and the senior-most IAS officer, chargeable for coordinating all departments and advising the chief minister.Forty-eight hours after he was relieved by the election fee because the particular observer on Might 7, Gupta was already appointed adviser to chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday. The appointment order got here inside hours after Adhikari took oath as CM at a ceremony at Brigade Parade Grounds.The state additionally appointed IAS officer Shantanu Bala because the CM’s personal secretary. Bala, a 2017-batch IAS officer, earlier served as further district Justice of the Peace of South 24 Parganas.The notification on appointing Gupta, issued from Nabanna, said that the appointment was made “within the curiosity of public service” and can stay efficient till additional orders.On Gupta’s appointment, CM Adhikari mentioned, “Within the earlier govt, environment friendly and neutral officers weren’t given any work and needed to go away the state (for central deputation). We need to give these environment friendly officers an opportunity to work for folks. We need to carry again these officers.”Gupta was earlier appointed by the EC as particular roll observer through the SIR train. Following EC’s reported satisfaction together with his function throughout SIR, he was later entrusted with duties as particular observer for the meeting ballot. The 2026 meeting ballot was largely peaceable, with no reported deaths through the election course of and no main allegations of sales space capturing or large-scale electoral violence.Sources mentioned Adhikari met Gupta after the completion of the election course of and held intensive talks with him. Throughout the assembly, Adhikari provided him the place of adviser, sources added.Gupta, a PhD from IIT-Kharagpur, served as DM of Jalpaiguri and Burdwan. He additionally served as an government director and later MD within the WBIDC from 2007 to 2011, a interval marked by Tata Motors’ unceremonious exit from Singur.
