Congress MP and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi. File | Photo credit: PTI
Launching a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the appointment of former West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal as the state’s new chief secretary, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday (May 12) said he would receive a bigger reward.
On Monday, the state government appointed Mr. Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer who oversaw the recent assembly elections in West Bengal, as the new chief secretary.
Subrata Gupta, also a 1990 batch IAS officer who served as Special Observer in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls in the state, has been appointed as Chief Advisor to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
In BJP-EC’s “Chor Bazaar” – the bigger the theft, the bigger the reward. https://t.co/2lNC1oATW1
—Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 12, 2026
“In the ‘sick bazaar’ of the BJP-EC, the bigger the theft, the bigger the reward,” Mr Gandhi said in a post on X.
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said the appointment showed “shameless collusion and connivance” between the EC and the BJP. “There is no longer even an attempt to conceal or conceal collusion,” Mr. Ramesh said in a post on X.
Claiming that the EC acted “exclusively in favor of the BJP”, the Congress leader alleged that thousands of voters were disenfranchised during the revision of the electoral roll.
Mr. Agarwal, a cadre officer from West Bengal, led SIR on EC mandate before the Assembly elections. According to Congress leaders, about 91 lakh names were removed from the electoral roll during the exercise.
The West Bengal government on Sunday made a bureaucratic reshuffle, appointing two IAS officers and seven WBCS (Executive) officers in the chief minister’s office, according to official announcements.
Mr. Gupta was appointed advisor to the chief minister hours after Mr. Adhikari was sworn in, while Shantanu Bala was appointed as private secretary to the chief minister.
Published – 12 May 2026 12:35 PM IST
