Who is Manoj Agarwal? West Bengal chief electoral officer appointed as chief secretary by Suvendu Adhikari government

West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Manoj Agarwal, has been appointed Chief Secretary of the Suvendu Adhikari-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, an official order issued on Monday said.

This came a week after the assembly election results were declared and two days after Adhikari took oath as the first BJP Chief Minister of the state.

The order also stated that the incumbent Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala has been appointed as Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi. Nariala, a 1993-batch IAS officer, had earlier been named Chief Secretary by the election authorities, replacing Nandini Chakravorty in the post of the state’s top bureaucrat.

Who is Manoj Agarwal?

Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, had previously overseen the Election Commission-mandated Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state ahead of the assembly elections, during which approximately 91 lakh names were removed from the electoral rolls.

Agarwal was moved to the West Bengal forest department before being brought back to a prominent role as the state’s CEO.

In that position, he oversaw the politically sensitive SIR exercise. The initiative was described by the BJP as an “essential electoral roll clean-up drive”, while the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) slammed it, alleging it was an attempt to "disenfranchise legitimate voters at the BJP's behest".

Agarwal is due to retire in July this year; however, according to PTI citing sources in the state secretariat suggest he is likely to be granted an extension, reportedly reflecting the BJP government’s confidence in his ability to manage and implement key administrative policies under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s first term in office.

Agarwal is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. He has had a long and varied administrative career, serving in several important departments of the West Bengal government, comprising Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Food, Fire and Emergency Services, and Forest. He has also held significant responsibilities at the central level, officials said, according to PTI.

He previously chaired the State Highways Authority, where he was involved in planning the elevated corridor over the Kona Expressway. The project is a major infrastructure upgrade aimed at reducing traffic congestion by creating a six-lane, signal-free route. The 7.8-km corridor, designed to improve connectivity to the Kolkata port, is currently under construction.

The Kona Expressway serves as a key arterial route linking Kolkata with National Highway 19, which leads toward Delhi, and National Highway 16, which connects to Mumbai.

During his tenure as Principal Secretary of the West Bengal Food and Supplies Department, Manoj Agarwal directed that food coupons under the state’s Public Distribution System be distributed by government officials rather than political representatives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This decision is reported to have displeased the then leadership of the TMC.

The BJP formed the government in the state for the first time after a decisive victory over the TMC. The party won 207 seats in the 294-member legislative assembly, while the a TMC was reduced to 80 seats.