KOLKATA: The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has hit out at the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday after the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) deactivated Aadhaar numbers of around 34 lakh deceased people in West Bengal, triggering serious controversy in the poll-bound state.
Assembly elections in Bengal are scheduled to be held in April–May next year.
It is learnt that the UIDAI recently held a meeting with officials from the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal and informed them about the deactivation of Aadhaar numbers belonging to such a large number of deceased residents from the state.
The UIDAI’s revelations identifying 34 lakh deceased individuals with Aadhaar cards have virtually placed the ruling party in an embarrassing situation, particularly at a time when the national poll body has been seeking the exact number of deceased and fake voters in the state through the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Around seven crore enumeration forms have been distributed among voters so far across the state’s 294 Assembly constituencies since the month-long SIR process commenced on 4 November. According to the ECI, there are 7.66 crore voters in the state.
Sources said that apart from the 34 lakh deceased residents whose Aadhaar numbers were allegedly deactivated, the ECI has also identified 13 lakh other deceased people who did not possess Aadhaar cards. The ECI has included the Aadhaar card in the list of indicative documents that people are required to submit as proof of identity during the SIR.
The Trinamool Congress leadership in the state has strongly opposed the UIDAI’s findings, claiming it to be a pre-planned move by the national poll panel. The ruling party has raised questions about the authenticity of the Aadhaar authority’s claims on the issue.
In social media posts, the party said, “On what basis has the UIDAI made the claim of deactivating Aadhaar of such a huge number of dead people? Earlier, UIDAI had assured that it never collected figures related to the Aadhaar deactivation process based on any grounds and names of any states.”
“It’s a planted exercise to delete names. We will organise mass protests and take legal steps if any genuine voter is deleted from the list,” the party claimed.
Political observers felt that with the alleged deactivation of 47 lakh deceased individuals’ Aadhaar cards, the Trinamool Congress may suffer a setback just five months ahead of the Assembly polls in the state.
Opposition parties, mainly the BJP, have been demanding the removal of deceased and fake voters from the state’s electoral rolls.