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New Delhi: Eyebrows have been raised at the appointment of retired Indian Administrative Service officer Subrata Gupta as the chief minister’s advisor, soon after he was sworn in. Gupta was the ‘Special Roll Observer’ of the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal, having been appointed to the job by the Election Commission of India in December, 2025. The SIR has drawn ire and charges of completely distorting the electoral field, after approximately 91 lakh names were knocked off the rolls and at least 27 lakh voters left in limbo, waiting for a decision on their right to vote, and denied their right to franchise this time.

The bureaucrat who has been moved in as advisor to the new chief minister, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Suvendu Adhikari, was known to have once been........

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