West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, who oversaw the recently held State Assembly elections and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, was appointed Chief Secretary of the State on Monday.

Issuing a notification, the new BJP government, headed by Suvendu Adhikari, said: “The Governor is pleased to appoint Manoj Kumar Agarwal, 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 orders(s).”

Agarwal as the Chief Electoral Officer supervised the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, which led to deletion of around 10 per cent of the electorate in the State, and conduct of the Assembly polls held last month.

The BJP government in Bengal on Monday also announced Cabinet portfolios for five Ministers, who were sworn in alongside Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Announcing the portfolio distribution for his newly-formed cabinet, Adhikari said senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh has been given charge of the Rural Development, Panchayats and Animal Resources. Agnimitra Paul will be handling Women and Child Welfare along with Municipal Corporations.

Nishit Pramanik has been assigned to the North Bengal Development, Sports, and Youth Welfare. Ashok Kirtania has been appointed Food Minister, while Kshudiram Tudu has been entrusted with the Backward Classes Welfare department.

Adhikari was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal on May 9, marking the formation of the first BJP-led government in the State after the saffron party recorded a landslide victory in the Assembly elections. Adhikari, the BJP legislature party leader, inducted Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nisith Pramanik in the new State Cabinet.

The composition of the new Cabinet highlights the BJP’s attempt to balance caste and regional representation in the State.

fashion designer-turned-politician

While Ghosh, who began his political journey through RSS, is a former State party President, Paul, a fashion designer-turned-politician, is Bengal BJP’s Vice-President. Kirtania, a two-time MLA, is associated with the welfare of the Matua community. The Matuas, now form West Bengal’s second largest Scheduled Castes (SCs) population, migrated in different phases during the communal clashes in Bangladesh to different districts of the State.

Tudu, who represents the tribal community, is known as an important tribal face of the BJP in the State. Pramanik, considered one of the party’s prominent young faces in North Bengal, is a former Union Minister of State for Home Affairs.

Riding on a massive anti-incumbency wave against the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, the BJP recorded a historic landslide victory in the Assembly elections held last month. The saffron party’s win ended 15 years of TMC rule and marked a watershed moment for the party as it dismantled Banerjee’s bastion through an all-gun blazing election campaign. The party won 207 seats, reducing the Trinamool to just 80 in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.

Published on May 11, 2026