A very unsettling debate that concerns the whole West Bengal has been stirred by a fresh disclosure of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Data to the state Election Commission reveal that nearly 34 Lakh (3.4 million) Aadhaar card holders in the state have been marked as deceased. Just the sheer magnitude of the figure has been enough to make people stand and stare. As a matter of fact, the public outrage mainly revolves around the date of the occurrence, i.e. the day when revising the voter list in the state is in full swing.
Many people which represent the common understanding of the matter have presently put forward questions that come from their heart and mind at once: *How is it possible that so many people are listed as dead?* And what is also of great importance: *Can we expect that there are already some living people whose Aadhaar accounts have been marked as inactive?*
The problem of identification by Aadhaar records in the status of death has been raised in a conversation between the Chief Electoral Officer and the UIDAI representatives. The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls is currently taking place in Bengal during which authentic data from Aadhaar are employed to the verification of voters, deletion of duplicates, and identification of the deceased rosters. In theory, it sounds as a routine procedure. Unfortunately, for the families who are benefactors through the bank accounts, pensions, and welfare schemes that they have linked with their Aadhaar cards, the thought of an accidental deactivation is nothing but a very unpleasant idea.
Besides, politicians have also been very vocal on the issue. The ruling Trinamool Congress has accused the central authorities of undermining their power, and has insinuated that the sudden surge in “deceased” cases may be a trick to tamper with voter lists. Opposition parties, on the other hand, view it as a necessary step that has been delayed for a long time to bring about transparency in the system. Between these two extremes lies the ordinary voter who simply wants to feel safe—that their identity, and their vote, will not be compromised.
Authorities have explained that the “deceased” label in Aadhaar records does not entail automatic removal from voter lists. Truncated groups will still perform door-to-door verification and, should a mistake arise, relatives will have the option of filing their grievances. Nonetheless, the large volume of cases has caused many people to question if the root cause of the “deceased” pile is from mismatches in database, un-updated records, or even errors made by the local staffs in charge of clerical work.
Bengal is a region that can be described as one that doesn’t depend on luck but rather on trust to bring about its next election and the latter is becoming more important with every passing day. It is now up to the authorities to show the next steps are going to be dealt with in an open and considerate manner, thus determining whether the revelation about the Aadhaar is a matter of cleaning the database shall be or an onset of a political storm of larger scale.
