• By PTI
  • Thu, 06 Nov 2025 08:27 PM (IST)
  • Source:PTI
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Bengal SIR: As part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, the Election Commission is planning to use the database of the state government's 'Somobyathi' scheme to identify deceased voters, a senior official said on Thursday.
District magistrates have been instructed by the commission to prepare a list of deceased voters based on the 'Somobyathi' database within ten days, he stated.

"We have plans to use the database of the 'Somobyathi' scheme to identify and remove names of deceased voters from the electoral rolls. Necessary instructions have been sent to the officials in the districts across the state," an official at the state CEO's office told PTI.

Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to the next of kin of a deceased person from poor families to perform the last rites and to meet incidental expenses related to cremation or burial.

Over the years, thousands of families have availed of the benefit of the scheme, and the government has a comprehensive record of deaths across districts, he said.

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Introduced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2016, the 'Somobyathi' scheme is one of the welfare initiatives launched by her government.

The 'Somobyathi' data would be a key resource, but the commission takes additional measures to verify and cross-check information to ensure accuracy in identifying deceased voters before the final voter list is published, he said.

As part of SIR, booth-level officers started visiting voters' residences from November 4. This month-long process of house-to-house enumeration will continue till December 4, and the draft rolls will be published on December 9.

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Claims and objections can be raised from December 9 to January 8. Notices will be issued, and hearings and verifications will take place between December 9 and January 31. The final electoral rolls will be published on February 7.

(Disclaimer: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by The Daily Jagran staff and has been published through syndicated feed by PTI.)

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