Ex-enclave people unlikely to be voters this year: EC

There is little chance for inhabitants of former 111 Indian enclaves to get enrolled as voters this year as the upazilas, union parishads and wards are yet to be demarcated incorporating the new areas.

"The possibility to make the people living in former enclaves voters is very thin during the ongoing voter list updating process as the local government ministry has yet to send the copy delimitating the areas concerned," EC Secretary Sirazul Islam told the news agency.

He, however, said the commission will start the voter registration process in the former enclaves soon after getting the new demarcation of the areas. The process to make them voters can be started separately, even after the ongoing voter roll updating process which is set to end by this year, the EC Secretary added.

The commission started the countrywide voter roll updating process on July 25 to publish a final updated voter list on January 31 next year.

Earlier, the EC took a plan to enroll them as voters and provide them national identity (NID) cards soon after the exchange of 162 enclaves between Bangladesh and India.

It also had preparation to make the people in the former enclaves voters during the updating process, but could not do that due to delay in the delimitation process of the upazilas, union parishads and wards concerned.

Under the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA), India handed over 111 enclaves, measuring 17,160 acres, to Bangladesh and received 51 enclaves covering 7,110 acres.

According to the India-Bangladesh first-ever joint headcount conducted in 2011, as many as 37,383 people live in then 111 Indian enclaves, while 14,090 people in 51 Bangladeshi enclaves.

The 111 enclaves include 12 in Kurigram, 59 in Lalmonirhat, four in Nilphamari and 36 in Panchagarh.

The EC could not enroll Bangladeshi nationals residing in the former enclaves adversely located within the Indian territories despite its several efforts since 2008 as it did not get clearance from the home and foreign ministries.

In reply to the commission's letters in 2012 and 2014, the ministries informed the EC that the issue of exchanging enclaves between two neighbouring countries was under active consideration.

The enclaves were swapped on the midnight of July 31.

According to the EC's statistics, now there are 96.20 million voters in the country.