Manoj Agarwal, West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), is months away from retirement and finds himself within the crosshairs of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s incumbent Trinamool Congress (TMC) forward of the upcoming state meeting polls.
With the TMC recurrently attacking the Election Fee (EC), significantly over the contentious Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, the occasion on Wednesday lodged a proper grievance with the ballot physique towards Mr. Agarwal for his “biased and partisan habits” in favor of the primary opposition occasion, the BJP, within the present elections.
The TMC alleged that the CEO had “misused his energy” to affect voters and accused him of primarily partaking with BJP supporters and visiting sure areas, together with Nandigram on April 5, together with native BJP leaders. The TMC described Agarwal’s transfer as a “clear violation of protocol” and alleged that the CEO was “intentionally swaying voters in favor of the BJP”.
In 2009, the TMC had raised a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into illicit property towards Mr. Agarwal, questioning his {qualifications} as CEO.
When Agarwal was the director (land disposal and concrete growth) of the Delhi Improvement Authority (DDA), the CBI raided his residence and different properties within the nationwide capital. In 2013, the CBI had filed a chargesheet towards Mr. Agarwal and his spouse, Ruma, accusing them of amassing disproportionate property of Rs 1.46 billion in violation of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Nevertheless, in 2018, Agarwal was acquitted by a Delhi court docket, and the decision was challenged by the CBI in 2020, and the case remains to be pending within the Delhi Excessive Courtroom.
In a put up on X final month, TMC chief and Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya questioned Agarwal on the matter. “Manoj Agarwal has been warning cops about ‘Lakshman Rekha’ and lecturing them on ‘guidelines of service’. However the place did all this ethical sermon go when the CBI chargesheet says that just about 30 financial institution accounts and land price 60 crores (three in Dwarka and different lands in Gurgaon, Larger Noida and Kolkata) are related along with your spouse?”
“Reply questions on the file earlier than preaching ethics,” Bhattacharya added, citing a 2013 report on the case. “Accountability first, lectures later.”
In response to Chandrima’s allegations, Agarwal wrote to X, “In brief, the cost sheet lastly resulted in an honorable acquittal by the realized Particular Decide. Mrs. Agarwal has been in possession of property since earlier than her marriage and has been constantly submitting revenue tax returns since 1983.”
“All her property, whether or not acquired or disposed of, together with all sources of revenue, have been totally declared and duly valued by the Earnings Tax Division over the previous 43 years. Her monetary scenario has all the time been clear and in full compliance with the regulation. The try to ‘stigmatize and hold the canine’ has been uncovered after so a few years.” Agnipariksha. Fact and the rule of regulation will certainly prevail,” Agarwal stated.
Agarwal’s innings
Mr. Agarwal began his profession as a 1990-batch Bengal cadre IAS officer earlier than changing into a beleaguered ballot employee. He held numerous administrative roles throughout Bengal, together with as district Justice of the Peace in Uttar-Dinajpur district, and befriended Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, a late Congress stalwart and former Union minister from the district. Agarwal then grew to become Dasmunshi’s private assistant in Delhi, and his mentor was the Union Info and Broadcasting Minister.
In 2017, Mr. Agarwal was appointed as Principal Secretary, Meals and Provides Division, Bengal. Nevertheless, after allegations of corruption within the Public Distribution System (PDS) surfaced in 2018 and the then state meals provides minister Jyotipriyo Mallick was arrested by the CBI in 2023, Agarwal was “kicked out” from the ministry, a Bengal state secretariat Nabanna official stated.
In March 2025, Mr. Agarwal was appointed CEO of Bengal by the EC. On the time, his choice had raised eyebrows because the EC had rejected the state authorities’s preliminary shortlist and sought a revised committee of three IAS officers who would retire instantly after Might 2026.
The ballot panel’s calls for imply it needs a CEO who will step down after overseeing the 2026 meeting polls, so “there shall be no strain of any variety from the Bengal institution throughout elections,” a senior official stated.
In administrative circles, Mr. Agarwal was referred to as a “righteous officer” who might deal with “challenges” to the CEO put up within the SIR and meeting polls. “Manoj Agarwal is an official who has by no means labored beneath any political strain. He all the time does what he thinks is correct. That’s the reason he was given the problem of SIR and Meeting elections. Instantly after the elections, he’ll retire from service and there’s no risk of him returning to the state authorities,” stated a senior EC official.
– With enter from Mahender Singh Manral
