Kolkata: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has informed the Election Commission that nearly 34 lakh Aadhaar card holders have been found dead in West Bengal since the introduction of the identity card in January 2009.
UIDAI officials also revealed that around 13 lakh individuals in the state, who never had an Aadhaar card, have also been recorded as deceased.
The data was shared during a meeting between UIDAI officials and State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Aggarwal as part of the ongoing enumeration for the Electoral Rolls Revision (Special Summary Revision). The meeting was held in response to the Election Commission’s directive to all state CEOs to coordinate with Aadhaar authorities to verify voter data and identify discrepancies.
“The Election Commission has received several complaints about ghost voters, deceased voters, absentee voters, and duplicate names in the electoral rolls,” a senior official from the CEO’s office said on Wednesday. “UIDAI data on deceased citizens is expected to help us detect and remove such entries from the rolls,” the official added.
He further said that after the enumeration phase and publication of the draft electoral rolls on December 9, if applicants submit forms for names that have been deleted from the Aadhaar database, they can be summoned by the concerned Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) for verification.
