- By Aditya Jha
- Sat, 11 Apr 2026 11:36 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Bengal Polls: With just a few days remaining in the West Bengal Assembly election, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday continued its attack on the Election Commission (EC), allegedly for favouring the BJP. In a fresh development, the Mamata Banerjee-led party lodged a complaint with the poll body against West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal for allegedly favouring the main opposition party. However, the poll body has maintained that the allegations were baseless and the election was being conducted in a transparent manner.
In its complaint, the ruling party alleged that Agarwal was misusing his power to influence the voters of the poll-bound state. It asserted that the top officer has been interacting with the BJP supporters, adding that he has also been visiting certain areas to benefit the saffron party. The TMC also stated that Agarwal was "deliberately swaying voters in the BJP’s favour".
Apart from this, the ruling party has also questioned Agarwal's integrity by raising a 2009 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against him over disproportionate assets. "Manoj Agarwal warns officers about ‘Lakshman Rekha’ and lectures them on ‘service rules’. But where was this moral sermon when, as per a CBI chargesheet, nearly 30 bank accounts and six plots worth crores – three in Dwarka and others in Gurgaon, Greater Noida, and Kolkata – were allegedly linked to your wife?" Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya stated in a post on X.
While responding to his allegations, in a post on X, Agarwal reminded that he already got a clean chit in the case back in 2018.
Who Is Manoj Agarwal?
- He started his career as a 1990-batch Bengal cadre IAS officer
- Served as the District Magistrate of the Uttar Dinajpur district
- He was appointed the principal secretary of Bengal's Food and Supplies Department in 2017
- Earlier in March 2015, he was appointed as Bengal's CEO by the poll body