West Bengal chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal has been appointed as the state's chief secretary by the new BJP government, led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. This move has been slammed by the Trinamool Congress, which claims that the appointment is a reward for conducting a 'largely violence-free' assembly election, despite criticism over mass disenfranchisement.
Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer, had overseen the assembly polls, which saw an unprecedented deployment of central forces and only sporadic clashes. He has been replaced by Dushyant Nariala, who will become the state's new resident commissioner in Delhi.
The BJP came to power in the state after handing a landslide defeat to the Trinamool Congress in the April assembly polls. The saffron party secured 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, reducing the TMC to 80 seats.
Agarwal's appointment has been criticized by the TMC, with MP Sagarika Ghose saying that it is an 'outrageous and brazen' move. The BJP's five ministers have also received their portfolios, with Agnimitra Paul being in charge of the municipal affairs and urban development department.
