State appoints Bengal EC face Manoj Kumar Agarwal as chief secretary
Telegraph | 12 May 2026
Manoj Kumar Agarwal, who conducted the recent Bengal polls as chief electoral officer, was appointed chief secretary on Monday, replacing Dushyant Nariala who has been posted as the state’s principal resident commissioner in New Delhi.
Agarwal’s appointment means two of the bureaucrats who oversaw the Assembly polls have been sent to the state secretariat to work for the new government.
Earlier, retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta, who was the special observer in the CEO’s office and contributed to the peaceful conduct of the polls, was appointed adviser to the chief minister.
“Agarwal (a 1990-batch IAS officer) is the senior-most IAS officer in the state. With his appointment as chief secretary, the practice of selecting the chief secretary by superseding senior officers has come to an end,” a senior official said.
Several bureaucrats said Agarwal’s elevation had become almost certain after Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised him at Saturday’s swearing-in of chief minister Suvendu Adhikari and others at the Brigade Parade Grounds.
“The Prime Minister had taken Agarwal’s name in front of Suvendu and praised him for his role in conducting free, fair and peaceful polls in Bengal,” a source said.
“From that moment, it was almost certain that Agarwal would be appointed chiefsecretary.”
Before being appointed CEO in March last year, Agarwal had held the post of secretary in departments such as urban development and municipal affairs, personnel and administrative reforms, food and supplies, fire and emergency services, and forest and disaster management.
“He is an experienced officer. The new government will need a chief secretary who can guide the various departments and the junior officers in achieving its goals,” an official said.
“Whenever a regime changes, experienced officers need to be at the helm of affairs to implement the new government’s policies. Gupta and Agarwal make an ideal pair.”
That Agarwal would get a big responsibility became evident when he was asked to attend the chief minister’s meeting with senior bureaucrats at Nabanna on Monday morning. He later attended an afternoon meeting with district magistrates.
“Although an official order (on Agarwal’s latest appointment) was not issued in the morning, the government had already taken the decision,” an official said.
“As the chief minister was busy since morning, this being his first day in office, the order was issued late in the evening. So, there was nothing wrong in Agarwal attending the meetings.”
Nariala, whom the poll panel had appointed chief secretary in place of Nandini Chakravorty as soon as the elections were announced, has already been empanelled as a secretary with the Government of India.
“He has been made the resident commissioner in Delhi, but will soon get an appointment as a secretary in the central government,” an official said.
The Bengal government on Monday cancelled the appointments of all the retired officers and employees whom the previous government had re-employed.