New Delhi: The West Bengal government on Monday appointed Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, the top state official responsible for overseeing and conducting elections, as the Chief Secretary of the Suvendu-led government.The Chief Secretary is the top bureaucrat of the state government and the senior most IAS officer, responsible for coordinating all departments and advising the Chief Minister.Forty-eight hours after he was relieved as special observer by the Election Commission on May 7, Gupta had already been appointed advisor to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday. The appointment order came within hours of the officer taking oath as CM at a ceremony at the Brigade Parade Ground.The state also appointed IAS officer Shantanu Bala as private secretary to the CM. Bala, a 2017 batch IAS officer, previously served as the additional district magistrate of South 24 Parganas.The notification regarding Gupta’s appointment issued from Nabanna states that the appointment has been made “in the interest of public service” and will remain effective until further orders.On Gupta’s appointment, CM Adhikari said, “In the previous government, efficient and impartial officers were not given any work and they had to leave the state (for central deputation). We want to give these efficient officers a chance to work for the people. We want to bring these officers back.”Gupta was earlier appointed as a special role observer by the Election Commission during the SIR exercise. Following the Election Commission’s satisfaction with his role during the SIR, he was later assigned responsibilities as a special observer for the assembly elections. The 2026 assembly elections were largely peaceful, with no deaths reported during the election process and no major allegations of booth capturing or large-scale electoral violence.Sources said the officer met Gupta after the completion of the election process and had extensive talks with him. Sources said that during the meeting the officer offered him the post of advisor.Gupta, who has a PhD from IIT-Kharagpur, served as DM of Jalpaiguri and Burdwan. He also served as an executive director and later MD in WBIDC from 2007 to 2011, a period marked by Tata Motors’ unceremonious exit from Singur.