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Retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Subrata Gupta was on Saturday appointed as adviser to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, according to an official order issued by the state government.
Gupta, a 1990-batch IAS officer, had earlier been appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) as the Special Roll Observer for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise conducted ahead of the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections. In a separate appointment, the newly formed BJP government in West Bengal also named IAS officer Shantanu Bala as the Private Secretary to the Chief Minister. "The Governor is pleased to appoint Shri Shantanu Bala, IAS (WB:2017), ADM, South 24 Parganas, as Private Secretary to the Hon'ble Chief Minister, Government of West Bengal until further order(s). This is issued in the interest of public service," the notification stated. Shantanu Bala, a 2017-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, was serving as the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of South 24 Parganas prior to his new assignment. According to the orders issued, both officers have been directed to assume charge of their new responsibilities with immediate effect. The notification, issued on the day of the BJP government's swearing-in, said that Shantanu Bala, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of South 24 Parganas, has been appointed as the Chief Minister's Personal Secretary. He is an IAS officer of the 2017 batch of the West Bengal cadre. The notification mentioned that he has been given this new responsibility in the public interest. The appointments were announced on the same day that Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the 9th Chief Minister of West Bengal, marking the formation of the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state and ending the Trinamool Congress's 15-year rule. Along with Adhikari, five BJP leaders -- Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nisith Pramanik -- also took oath as ministers in the new West Bengal cabinet. The swearing-in ceremony, held in Kolkata, was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, among other senior BJP leaders. Several Chief Ministers, including Manik Saha of Tripura, Himanta Biswa Sarma of Assam, Rekha Gupta of Delhi and Pushkar Singh Dhami of Uttarakhand, were also present at the ceremony. Adhikari was administered the oath of office by Governor RN Ravi at a grand event in Kolkata attended by senior party leaders and dignitaries. The BJP secured a decisive victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, winning 207 seats and bringing an end to the Trinamool Congress's 15-year tenure in power. The TMC secured 80 seats in the Assembly polls. Adhikari had defeated former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency by a margin of over 15,000 votes and also retained the Nandigram Assembly seat. (ANI)
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