With the model code of conduct (MCC) in place in West Bengal, following the announcement of the Assembly election schedule, the Election Commission (EC) has carried out a massive bureaucratic reshuffle in the state, appointing a new state chief secretary, home secretary, Director General of Police, as well as Kolkata Police Commissioner.
The EC has replaced Nandini Chakraborty, the state’s first woman chief secretary, with Dushyant Nariala, a 1993-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre.
Nariala currently serves as the additional chief secretary (ACS) of the North Bengal Development Department.
He held additional charge as principal secretary of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) as well as additional chief secretary of the Correctional Administration Department. He also served as the principal secretary for the Disaster Management and Civil Defence Department.
Sanghamitra Ghosh, the new Home Secretary, is a 1997-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre. Ghosh, who replaced Jagdish Prasad Meena, served as principal secretary of the Department of Women & Child Development and Social Welfare.
In her career spanning over 25 years, she held several key administrative positions across the state. She also served as the Mission Director for the National Health Mission and district magistrate in several districts, including Howrah and South 24 Parganas.
The EC has also replaced DGP Peeyush Pandey with 1992-batch IPS officer Siddh Nath Gupta, and brought in Ajay Kumar Nand, a 1996-batch IPS officer, as the new Kolkata Police Commissioner, replacing Supratim Sarkar.
Gupta, the new DGP, was the DG of the Intelligence Branch in 2025. Before that, he served as ADG & IGP (South Bengal). He also played a key role in the CID, where he was the Additional Director General.
Nand, on the other hand, served as ADG (Counter Insurgency Force). He previously served as the Commissioner of Asansol-Durgapur and has experience within the Kolkata Police. He was also the first IG appointed to the West Bengal STF.
Senior officers in the police department said that Nand was considered an efficient officer and played a pivotal role in tackling Maoists in the Junglemahal belt of West Bengal.
While Peeyush Pandey has been posted as director (security), Sarkar has been appointed additional director general (ADG), CID, with additional charge of ADG, Intelligence Branch, according to the notification issued by the state’s Home and Hill Affairs Department.
Pandey takes over from IPS officer Manoj Kumar Verma, who has been reassigned as the Additional Director of Security.
Meanwhile, Ajay Mukund Ranade, a 1995 batch IPS officer, has been directed to take charge as ADG (Law and Order), replacing Vineet Goyal. He was earlier ADG (Telecommunication) and also served as Howrah Police Commissioner.
Vineet Kumar Goyal, on the other hand, has been named DG (Intelligence Branch). He will continue to hold the additional charge of DGP (Anti-Corruption Branch).
Natarajan Ramesh Babu, a 1991 batch IPS officer, has been appointed DG Correctional Home.