Former enclave dwellers in Cooch Behar miffed at ‘adjudication’ status in Bengal electoral rolls

Kolkata, Feb 28 (PTI) Disappointment gripped the newest citizens of India, residents of the former enclaves of Cooch Behar district, after an overwhelming majority allegedly found themselves in the ‘under adjudication’ category after the post-SIR electoral rolls for West Bengal were published by the Election Commission on Saturday.

Questioning their “citizenship-under-scrutiny” status, erstwhile enclave residents, comprising about 12,000 voters, voiced their dismay at not being readily inducted in electoral rolls despite assurances from top EC officials that their special cases would be treated with due consideration.

“When the EC distributed enumeration forms, we told the DEO about our unique situation of not being included in the 2002 rolls. We were not citizens at that time, and most of us did not have the documents required to prove citizenship during verification,” said Jaynal Abedin, a resident of Madhya Mashaldanga, a former enclave.

“The CEO had come here and assured us that we won’t face any harassment. Yet we see that our voting rights still remain under scrutiny. This is unacceptable,” he said.

Over 15,000 inhabitants of the former enclaves in the district who were awarded Indian citizenship after the historic exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh took place on the midnight of July 31, 2015, which also involved transferring 111 Indian enclaves to the neighbouring nation.

Two Indo-Bangla joint surveys of enclave residents were held, the first in 2011 and the second in 2015, as part of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement between the two nations, which culminated in the enclave exchange.

According to official records, 15,856 dwellers in Bangladeshi enclaves living on the Indian side of the border were granted citizenship alongside an additional 921 residents living in Indian enclaves in Bangladesh who had crossed over following an Indian government invitation.

“The government at the Centre, which fructified the enclave exchange, happens to be the same government which carried out the SIR exercise. Despite the EC’s promises, it is not only we, who lived on this side of the border prior to the exchange, whose right to vote continues to hang in the limbo, the ignominy is shared also by those who crossed over from Bangladesh, trusting this government,” Abedin said.

The disgruntled resident said the “under scrutiny” former enclave dwellers were planning to organise agitations before the office of the Cooch Behar DM, who doubles up as the DEO of the district.

West Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal had told PTI earlier that these new citizens would not face any difficulty in getting their names enrolled during the SIR exercise that began on November 4.

"Headcounts of former enclave residents had taken place with names and other details, and that list is available with the Union home ministry, the state government and the office of the DEO. They will face no problem at all," Agarwal had said in November last year.

Around 63.66 lakh names, nearly 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted in West Bengal since the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) began in November last year, bringing down the total number of voters in the state to over 7.04 crore ahead of the assembly elections due in April. PTI SMY NN