The Congress has rejected the appointment of former chief electoral officer Manoj Agarwal as the new chief secretary of West Bengal by the newly installed Suvendu Adhikari-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.
The opposition party also flagged the appointment of Subrata Gupta as chief adviser Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. The Congress party alleged that the appointments reflected “brazen collusion and connivance” between the Election Commission and the BJP and said there was no attempt to keep the collusion discreet or hidden.
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West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal was on May 11 appointed as the Chief Secretary of the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government in the state. The appointment came a week after the assembly election results were declared and two days after Adhikari was sworn in as the state’s first BJP chief minister.
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The Congress party condemned the appointment of Manoj Agarwal as general secretary and Subrata Gupta as chief adviser, alleging “brazen collusion and connivance” between the Election Commission and the BJP. They claim that these appointments are not even an attempt to cover up this collusion.
Manoj Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer, was the Chief Electoral Officer overseeing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. His appointment as Chief Secretary by the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government is controversial due to allegations of collusion with the BJP, especially after around 90 million voters were removed from the electoral rolls.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was an electoral roll revision exercise in West Bengal during which about 90 million voters were removed. The BJP described it as a “fundamental cleansing of the electoral roll”, while the Congress and the TMC alleged that it was an attempt to disenfranchise voters and create an electoral advantage for the BJP.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor suggested that the large-scale voter wipeout during the SIR, with many appeals pending judgment, may have benefited the BJP. He noted that the BJP’s margin of victory was close to the number of pending voter appeals.
Subrata Gupta, a 1990-batch IAS officer who also oversaw the delisting of the SIR as a special observer, has been appointed as chief advisor to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer responsible for overseeing the recent assembly elections in the state. Agarwal, a cadre officer from West Bengal, also led the mandate of the EC Special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal in the run-up to the parliamentary polls, in which about 90 million voters were struck off the electoral rolls.
Agarwal was moved to West Bengal of the forest department before being brought back to the prominent role of the state’s director general.
“Shameless collusion and leniency”
Similarly, Subrata Gupta, also a 1990-batch IAS officer who oversaw the delisting of the SIR in Bengal as a special observer, has been appointed as chief advisor to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, as Congress leader Jairam Ramesh pointed out in a post on X.
“These appointments reflect a blatant collusion and connivance between the ECI and the BJP. There is no longer even an attempt to keep the collusion discreet or hidden,” Ramesh said.
Gupta was appointed advisor to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari hours after he was sworn in, while Shantanu Bala was appointed as his private secretary. The appointments are a testimony that the ECI was not impartial and acted solely in favor of the BJP, he alleged.
“The entire state went to polls with 27 lakh people excluded from voting. This was tactfully done by the ECI to create an electoral advantage for the BJP,” Ramesh said.
The BJP described the SIR as a “fundamental purge of electoral rolls”, while the TMC criticized it, saying it was an attempt to “disenfranchise legitimate voters at the behest of the BJP”. The BJP defeated the TMC in the recently held assemblies to come to power in Bengal for the first time since independence.
The West Bengal government on Sunday made a bureaucratic reshuffle and appointed two IAS officers and seven WBCS officers (executive) in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), according to official notifications.
SIR in the Supreme Court
TMC Member of Parliament (MP) Kalyan Banerjee argued before the Supreme Court on Monday, May 11, that in 31 constituencies in West Bengal, the winning margins were less than the number of deleted votes.
The High Court the bench heard a number of petitions, including one filed by Mamata Banerjee, which related Special Intensive Review (SIR) voter lists in the state.
According to a legal news website A living lawKalyan Banerjee, who is also the senior advocate, said that the margin of victory in the 31 constituencies was less than the discharge due to the SIR decision.
Key things
- The Congress party has been vocal against the perceived election rigging in West Bengal.
- Recent appointments of key officials have raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
- The controversy highlights ongoing political tensions and challenges to fair elections in India.
