34 lakh Aadhaar holders marked ‘deceased’ in West Bengal: UIDAI tells EC
EC has received many complaints about ghost and duplicate voters; UIDAI data will help clean the rolls, says a senior official
In a revelation that could reshape West Bengal’s voter verification exercise, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has informed the Election Commission (EC) that nearly 34 lakh Aadhaar card holders in the state have been marked as “deceased” since the introduction of the national identity card in January 2009.
The UIDAI, in a detailed briefing to the state’s chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, also reported that around 13 lakh individuals who never possessed Aadhaar cards have died since the programme’s inception. The disclosure comes amid the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — a sweeping drive aimed at cleansing West Bengal’s voter list of ghost, duplicate, and deceased entries.
The meeting between UIDAI and election officials followed an EC directive asking all states to synchronise voter records with Aadhaar data to enhance transparency and accuracy.
“The EC has received numerous complaints regarding ghost voters, absentee voters, and duplicate names in the rolls. The UIDAI data will play a crucial role in identifying and removing such entries,” said a senior official from the CEO’s office.
Officials added that once the draft electoral rolls are published on 9 December, any new voter application linked to a deactivated or deceased Aadhaar number will trigger a verification process. Applicants may then be summoned by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) for scrutiny.
In a bid to strengthen cross-verification, the EC has also sought assistance from banks. Since Aadhaar is linked to most accounts, lenders have supplied data highlighting accounts inactive for years — a potential indicator of deceased individuals whose names may still appear on voter rolls.
“Banks have provided details of accounts where KYC updates haven’t been done for a long time. This data, when mapped with voter records, helps identify likely deceased individuals,” the official explained.
Meanwhile, the SIR drive continues in full swing across West Bengal. Booth level officers (BLOs) have been going door-to-door, distributing enumeration forms based on the 2025 electoral rolls, and cross-referencing them with data from the 2002 rolls, when the last such intensive exercise was carried out.
As of 8 pm on Wednesday, over 6.98 crore Enumeration Forms — covering 91.19 per cent of the state’s electorate — had been distributed. The EC has warned that any BLO found responsible for ghost or duplicate entries in the upcoming draft rolls could face disciplinary action.
EROs across districts have been instructed to maintain “utmost accuracy and vigilance”, with officials describing the exercise as not merely an administrative process but a “restoration of electoral purity”.
The large-scale cleanup, driven by technology and accountability, marks one of the most extensive attempts yet to ensure that every vote cast in West Bengal’s democracy truly belongs to a living, eligible citizen.
With PTI inputs