Congress Alleges BJP-ECI Nexus Over Key Bengal Appointments

New Delhi, May 2026: The Congress on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) over recent high-level administrative appointments in West Bengal, alleging a “brazen nexus” between the ruling party and the constitutional body responsible for conducting elections.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticised the appointments of two senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers who held important election-related responsibilities during the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections and have now been elevated to influential positions in the state administration.

The controversy erupted after Manoj Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer, was appointed as the new Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal. Agarwal had earlier served as the Chief Election Officer during the recently concluded Assembly elections and was responsible for overseeing the conduct of the electoral process in the state.

At the same time, another 1990-batch IAS officer, Subrata Gupta, was appointed Chief Adviser to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Gupta had served as the Special Roll Observer during the elections, supervising matters related to electoral rolls, including verification and deletion of names from voter lists.

Reacting strongly to the developments, Jairam Ramesh alleged that the appointments raise serious questions about the neutrality of the Election Commission and the integrity of the electoral process in the state.

According to the Congress leader, the movement of officials from election-related posts to key positions in the government soon after the polls suggests a clear conflict of interest and indicates that their actions during the election period may have been politically motivated.

Ramesh accused the BJP of benefiting from what he described as “institutional compromise” and claimed that the Election Commission had failed to maintain impartiality during the Assembly elections.

The Congress further alleged that nearly 27 lakh voters were prevented from exercising their franchise during the elections due to irregularities linked to the voter roll revision process. The party claimed that the deletions were carried out strategically to create an electoral advantage for the BJP.

“The rewards being handed out after the elections expose the close coordination between the BJP and officials who were expected to function independently,” Ramesh said, adding that democratic institutions were being weakened through such actions.

He also stated that there was no longer any attempt to conceal what he termed a “blatant collusion” between the ruling party and constitutional authorities.

The Congress maintained that the appointments have intensified concerns about the credibility of the electoral system and called for greater transparency and accountability in the functioning of election-related institutions.

The BJP and the Election Commission have not yet officially responded to the allegations raised by the Congress.

(The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)