PUTRAJAYA, Feb 16 — The home ministry said today using the government’s database, the Election Commission (EC) can verify if any voter had died and remove the name from the electoral roll.

Home Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Mahmood Adam said death reports are uploaded into the Agency Link-Up System (ALIS), which is an online network linking the National Registration Department (NRD) with various agencies, according to Bernama Online.

This he said can help with the often debated phantom voter phenomenon — allegations of ineligible persons, including dead persons, still appearing in electoral rolls and then voting.

He was speaking at the launch of the New Death Registration Document/Burial Permit and presentation of certificates of appreciation at the NRD here.

The Public Service Department, Employees Provident Fund and Inland Revenue Board, according to Mahmood were already benefitting from the online system.

Mahmood also disclosed that the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms, appointed by Dewan Rakyat on October 3, has held 12 days of public hearings.

The committee was set up to look into electoral process reform.

The sessions since November 11 — in locations like Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Kota Baharu — collected feedback from organisations, associations and individuals on issues like phantom voters.

Mahmood said the committee also asked the NRD to update death registrations in the country, which the department has been carrying out since December 1 last year.

He said the death reports the NRD received in December 2010 was 11,604 compared to 11,284 in the corresponding month in 2011. The total for January 2012 is 12,316 which is higher than the 11,831 recorded in January 2011.