Alapan Bandyopadhyay Made WB Home Secretary a Day After MCC Got Over

Kolkata: In a significant IAS reshuffle in Bengal, Alapan Bandyopadhyay has become the new home secretary while Saurav Das become the state chief electoral officer on Monday, a day after Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct got over.

An IAS officer of the 1987 batch, Alapan Bandyopadhyay was the additional chief secretary of the micro, small and medium enterprises and textiles department, while Saurav Das (an IAS officer of the 1986 batch) was the additional chief secretary (ACS) of the public health engineering (PHE) department and the panchayats and rural development department.

Atri Bhattacharya (who was the home secretary of the Bengal) and Ariz Aftab were (who was the state chief electoral officer) were not reinstated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after model code of conduct got over on Sunday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee confirmed the appointment of Bandyopadhyay as new WB home secretary.

On May 15, the Election Commission (EC) relieved Atri Bhattacharya of his duties and asked the state’s chief secretary to handle the additional responsibility.

The EC had also cut short poll campaign by 19 hours in West Bengal by invoking Article 324 for the first time in the history of Lok Sabha polls.