– Shabana Javed
Kolkata: The Aadhaar authorities have informed the West Bengal Election Commission that data on around 33–34 lakh deceased individuals from the state has been provided to them. Additionally, the UIDAI revealed that there are 13 lakh people in the shared database who do not possess Aadhaar cards. According to Commission sources, this information will play a key role after the publication of the draft voter list under the SIR process.
UIDAI Director Shubhdeep Chowdhury met State Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal on Wednesday and officially submitted the data. Following this, the Trinamool Congress launched a political attack, reviving an old statement from UIDAI made in Parliament. In February 2024, Trinamool MP Saket Gokhale had raised a question in Rajya Sabha regarding Aadhaar data. In its response, UIDAI referred to a 2017 letter stating that it did not maintain any record of state-wise or year-wise Aadhaar deactivations. Trinamool Congress is now questioning how the same authority which earlier claimed it didn’t store such details can suddenly provide detailed data on deceased Aadhaar holders in Bengal. The ruling party in the state fears that this move could be a “backdoor attempt” to delete valid voter names from the list. Citing incidents from Bihar, Trinamool claimed that during a similar voter list revision process there, many living voters were mistakenly marked as deceased and later had to be reinstated. They warn that Bengal could face the same problem.
Meanwhile, sources in the Chief Electoral Officer’s office clarified that the data will be used carefully. If any voter form is found to be submitted in the name of a deceased person, the individual who submitted it will be summoned by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). A Booth Level Officer (BLO) may also be called for verification if required. Officials stressed that the goal is to ensure that no deceased individuals remain listed as active voters in electoral rolls.
