The Union government is planning to introduce a bill in Parliament to link the birth and death register of the country with electoral rolls, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday, PTI reported.

The bill will have provisions to add citizens to the electoral rolls automatically when they turn 18, the home minister said.

“In case of someone’s death, the Census registrar will send a notice to the family that they have received information about the person’s death and the family has 15 days to object, following which the Election Commission will remove his name from the voter list,” Shah added, according to The Hindu.

Shah was speaking at the inauguration of the office building of the registrar general and census commissioner of India in Delhi. The home minister did not say anything on when the decadal Census will be conducted that has been pending since 2021.

The first phase of Census 2021 was originally slated to be held from April to September 2020. It was to entail a Housing Census and update the National Population Register, which is a list of all usual residents of India.

However, it was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic. As things stand now, the process will not begin at least till September as the Centre has extended the deadline to freeze administrative boundaries till June 30. A census can be carried out only three months after the freezing of the boundaries of districts, tehsils, talukas and police stations.

Also read: From CAA-NRC to caste conundrum, what is keeping the government from carrying out the Census?

On Monday, Shah also said that the next Census will be carried out on digital platforms.

“The government will now conduct the Census electronically where every person will have the right to fill the data which will be verified and audited,” he said, according to The Hindu. “This will include more than 35 parameters of socio-economic status.”

Also read: India’s welfare programmes are suffering because of the delay in census by Modi government