On Monday, Manoj Kumar Agarwal was appointed as the Chief Secretary of West Bengal by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Agarwal, a 1990-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the West Bengal cadre, succeeds Dushyant Nariala, who has been designated as the new resident commissioner in Delhi. This appointment marks Agarwal as the second bureaucrat with close ties to the election process to assume a significant role in West Bengal's first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. Nariala was appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 15. Agarwal officially took office by Monday evening, overseeing the state's administration and coordinating various departments. The timing of his appointment coincides with the finalization of portfolios for five ministers who recently took oath, including Agnimitra Paul, the first woman in the cabinet, who will handle municipal affairs and urban development. The BJP achieved a significant victory in the recent elections, winning 207 of Bengal's 294 seats, while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) secured 80 seats. Notably, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was among 22 ministers who could not retain their seats.