Kolkata, Nov. 12 -- At a review meeting convened under the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), Aadhaar authorities on Wednesday shared details of 47 lakh deceased individuals from West Bengal with the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
The meeting, chaired by CEO Manoj Agarwal, was attended by Aadhaar official Subhodeep Choudhary, who informed that around 34 lakh deceased persons possessed Aadhaar cards, while another 13 lakh had been identified as deceased without Aadhaar. The complete details of these individuals have been handed over to the CEO's office for verification and necessary action.
A Commission official said that once the data is cross-verified, the process of deleting names of deceased from the electoral rolls will begin. "This exercise will ensure that the voter list is accurate and up to date," the official added.
The move comes after the ECI recently directed the Aadhaar authorities across states and Union Territories to share data on deceased persons with the respective CEO offices.
Officials said the information will help detect and eliminate the names of deceased voters during the ongoing SIR process. The data will be communicated to the concerned officials, including BLOs, to help bring out a transparent final electoral roll. The distribution of enumeration forms across Bengal began on November 4, and till 4 pm on Wednesday, around 6.87 crore were distributed.
The CEO office has convened a special review meeting late on Wednesday night with all EROs and BLOs to assess the pace of form distribution in the backdrop of a below 75 per cent distribution rate in 37 Assembly constituencies in the state, a majority of which fall under Kolkata and its adjoining districts of North 24-Parganas and South 24-Parganas.
Kasba, Jadavpur, Beleghata, Bidhannagar, Rajarhat-New Town, Sonarpur, Behala, Maheshtala, Metiabruz, Tollygunge, Cossipore-Belgachia, Bidhannagar, to name a few, figure in the list.
The Commission aims to complete the distribution of all forms across the state latest by Saturday to prevent delays in the SIR process.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.