3 min readKolkataMar 16, 2026 07:41 AM IST
The Election Commission on late Sunday night replaced the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary of West Bengal, hours after announcing the dates for the Assembly elections in the state.
The EC has removed Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty and replaced her with Dushyant Nariala. Similarly, state Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena has been replaced by Sanghamitra Ghosh.
In a letter sent to the chief secretary, the EC said that “the officers transferred out” – Nandini Chakraborty and Jagdish Prasad Meena – “shall not be posted in any election-related position” till the polls are over.
“The directions of the Election Commission should be implemented with immediate effect and a compliance report in respect of joining of Dushyant Nariala and Sanghamitra Ghosh be sent by 3 pm on March 16 (Monday).
Nandini Chakraborty, the 1994-batch IAS officer was appointed as the first woman chief secretary of West Bengal on December 31 last year. Her presence with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, along with other top bureaucrats of the state, during the Enforcement Directorate’s search operation at I-PAC’s Kolkata office had sparked criticism from the Opposition BJP and former bureaucrats, calling it a breach of administrative protocol.
Chakraborty, a voter in Kolkata, was called for hearings by the EC during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Replacing her, Dushyant Nariala is a 1993-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre. He currently serves as Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) for the North Bengal Development Department.
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He held Additional Charge as Principal Secretary of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) as well as Additional Chief Secretary of the Correctional Administration Department. He also served as the Principal Secretary for the Disaster Management and Civil Defence Department.
Sanghamitra Ghosh, the new Home Secretary, is an IAS officer of the 1997 batch belonging to the West Bengal cadre. Ghosh served as the Principal Secretary for the Department of Women & Child Development and Social Welfare.
In her career spanning over 25 years, she has held several key administrative positions across the state. She also served as the Mission Director for the National Health Mission and district magistrate in several districts, including Howrah and South 24 Parganas.
The replacement of the top two administrative officials of the West Bengal government by the Election Commission (EC), though not unprecedented, may add a new chapter to the ongoing confrontation between the EC and the TMC government in the state.
