3 min readMay 14, 2026 06:00 AM IST First published on: May 14, 2026 at 06:00 AM ISTThe appointment of West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal as the Chief Secretary by the Suvendu Adhikari government raises many a question. Agarwal, who is the state’s senior-most bureaucrat, but is set to retire in July, supervised the rollout of the Special Intensive Revision exercise in the state, which led to about 91 lakh deletions. Of these, nearly 27 lakh are seen as controversial, for which the appellate process is incomplete. The West Bengal SIR is also under challenge in the Supreme Court. Against this backdrop, the government’s decision to appoint Agarwal is questionable not because of his own competence, but because it risks undermining trust in a premise larger than him — that those overseeing election processes are not keeping an eye on a post-election office. It is also for this reason, arguably, that the poll panel had wanted a CEO who would retire after overseeing the election. The problem is also this: As CEO, Agarwal oversaw the SIR process, and as Chief Secretary, he will steer the state response in terms of addressing infirmities in the process. There is also an issue of institutional credibility here. Fifteen years of Trinamool government saw a disquieting politicisation of the bureaucracy that smudged institutional lines. The new BJP government that seeks to make a departure from this past can ill afford to be unmindful of this.The Adhikari government in Bengal has also said that while those whose cases are still under consideration by the appellate tribunals will receive the benefits of government schemes, those deleted through the SIR exercise will no longer be able to do so. A minister has underlined the new framework of exclusion: Those who have applied under the CAA for citizenship can also avail all government schemes. This resurrects the spectre that the amendments to the citizenship law a few years ago had touched off, and draws the SIR into it. The CAA drew criticism because, for the first time in a diverse democracy, it made religion a criterion for citizenship, providing an accelerated path to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from neighbouring countries — except Muslims. The SIR process that shifted the burden of proof onto the vulnerable voter, set unrealistic timelines for voters and no deadlines for appellate tribunals, and in which there were many more deletions in Muslim-dominated constituencies, cannot — and should not — become a test for citizenship. The watchful eye of the Court is needed more than ever.AdvertisementThe term “ghuspaithiya” or illegal immigrant — invoked to justify the new exclusionary framework and paper over its cracks — is part of the language of communal dog-whistle politics. In West Bengal, the BJP government has just won a formidable victory. It must deliver on a mandate to deliver change that includes all, not tarnish it by narrowing its vision at the very outset. As CEO, the process that Agarwal steered achieved a much-needed cleanup but has been tainted by exclusion. As Chief Secretary, can he hit reset and refresh? A lot rides on this question.