‘Bigger the theft, bigger the reward’: Rahul Gandhi slams former election officer’s appointment as Bengal chief secretary
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has launched a scathing attack on the newly elected BJP government in West Bengal over the appointment of former chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal as the state’s new chief secretary, pointing to a nexus between the saffron party and the Election Commission (EC).
According to Kashmir Media Service, reacting to the appointment, Rahul Gandhi wrote on X: “In BJP-EC’s ‘chor bazaar (Thieves’ Market)’ — the bigger the theft, the bigger the reward.”
The remarks came amid growing criticism from opposition parties over the BJP government’s decision to appoint Manoj Kumar Agarwal — who supervised the recently concluded West Bengal assembly elections — as the state’s top bureaucrat within days of the saffron party coming to power.
Agarwal was serving as the state’s chief electoral officer during the high-voltage 2026 assembly elections in which the BJP secured a landslide victory.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) also strongly objected to the appointment, saying it reinforced suspicions about the neutrality of election authorities during the polls. TMC MP Sagarika Ghose said that the BJP government was rewarding a so-called “neutral umpire” after the party’s victory.
“The so called ‘neutral umpire’ is rewarded with the post of top bureaucrat of the in Bengal. Does anyone still SERIOUSLY believe #BengalElections2026 were free and fair? Outrageous and brazen,” Ghose posted on X.
The appointment order was issued on Monday by the West Bengal government headed by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Opposition parties have particularly raised concerns over Agarwal’s role in overseeing the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls before the elections. During the exercise, nearly 9.1 million names were deleted from voter lists across the state, including 2.71 million under a controversial “logical discrepancy” category.
The TMC and other opposition parties have said that the revision process disproportionately affected voters believed to support anti-BJP parties.
