Mon, May 11, 2026
Manoj Kumar Agarwal appointed West Bengal Chief Secretary
State government names the serving Chief Electoral Officer as Chief Secretary, replacing the top bureaucratic leadership at a politically crucial time
May 11, 2026 · 1 min read
The Government of West Bengal has appointed Manoj Kumar Agarwal, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer and ex-officio Additional Chief Secretary in the Home and Hill Affairs (Election) Department, as the new Chief Secretary of West Bengal until further orders, according to an official notification issued by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms.
Agarwal is a 1990-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre. He had overseen the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive in the state.
The development comes two days after BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal, succeeding Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Dushyant Nariala, who is the incumbent Chief Secretary, has been amed Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi.
"The Governor is pleased to appoint Manoj Kumar Agarwal, IAS (WB:1990), Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal and ex-officio Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Hill Affairs (Election) Department, Govt. of West Bengal as Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal until further order.
Agrawal is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, where he earned his B.Tech degree, and studied at La Martiniere College. He is currently serving as the president of the Bengal IAS Association.
During his tenure as CEO, he supervised the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, during which nearly 9.1 million voters were removed from the lists. Following security concerns raised during the elections, the Centre had provided him with Y-Plus category security.
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