On Monday, the West Bengal state government said Manoj Kumar Agarwal, the Chief Electoral Officer, was now the Chief Secretary. TMC leaders said this was shockingly open, and that it damages how trustworthy the recent state Assembly elections and the state’s administration are.
Agarwal, who was responsible for a very detailed look at and change to the voter rolls and then for the election itself, is now in charge of the entire state bureaucracy. Also, only two days before this, Subrata Gupta, who had special responsibility for checking the revised voter lists, was chosen as an advisor to Suvendu Adhikari, the Chief Minister.
Why the appointment matters
The Chief Secretary is the most important civil servant in the state. They are the Chief Minister’s main advisor and make sure all the different parts of government work together on policies. Because of this, having someone who ran the election put in that job immediately after a tough election naturally makes people ask if they can be fair and if the public can trust them.
The BJP won a large majority, taking 207 of the constituencies, while the TMC won 80. This happened with a major revision of the list of voters and a very heated argument over who was really in control of the election.
Key recent moves raising questions in Bengal’s power corridors:
– CEO made Chief Secretary after the election
– Rolls observer appointed as chief minister’s advisor
– BJP secured 207 seats, TMC won 80
Political reactions and allegations
TMC leaders see Agarwal being promoted to Chief Secretary as proof of what they’ve suspected all along during the election. Sagarika Ghose described it as ‘shocking and brazen’, saying the ‘supposedly fair referee’ has been given a reward, and asked if the election was ‘fair and free’.
Saket Gokhale said the BJP and the Election Commission are now ‘openly admitting to stealing the election’, and asked ‘are the courts either unable to see this or involved in it?’. The TMC had problems with election officials multiple times and formally complained about Agarwal during the election.
The government quickly announced Agarwal’s appointment online. Derek O’Brien, from the TMC, responded with a sarcastic comment that it was “surely just a coincidence”.
Election roll revisions under scrutiny
The biggest issue behind this appointment is the big change to the voter list. The final list published in February at first left out over 6.1 million voters. The process of adding and removing voters, and deciding on around 6 million ‘questionable and waiting’ cases, continued after that.
By April 6, around 9.1 million voters, almost 12% of those who were eligible to vote at the start of the process, had been taken off the list. Many challenges to these removals are with appeal courts, and the TMC has taken the Election Commission to the Supreme Court because of what they call unfair actions by the Commission.
The TMC also said that some officials who support the BJP were working within the election process. On April 8, the TMC said the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, told their group to ‘go away’. The Commission, in a post on social media referring to ‘being direct with the Trinamool Congress’, said the election would be ‘without fear, violence, bullying, bribes, or stopping people from voting or interfering with the voting process’. The TMC said the way the Commission spoke was not appropriate for a neutral organization.
What the government says
The BJP in West Bengal defended their choice, saying it was sensible administration to choose the most senior IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer in the state and said it showed respect for the law. They said that, unlike this, the previous government had ignored more experienced officers.
For the new government, this appointment means things will continue as they are and they’ll be in control of how policies are carried out. For those who oppose them, it confirms the idea that the person in charge of the election has moved from being on the field with the players to being in the winning team’s dressing room.
What comes next
The first real test of this will be the decisions of the appeal courts about the voters who were removed from the lists, and any following decisions from the courts. As these challenges continue, Agarwal now has the difficult job of running the state and calming worries about the difference between running the election and using the power of the government.
