9,500 ex-enclave dwellers in N Bengal fear losing vote

Jalpaiguri: Around 9,500 former enclave-dwellers who became Indian citizens on Aug 1, 2015, face another hurdle — voter rolls released on Feb 28 following Special Intensive Revision (SIR) have marked them "under adjudication."

With barely a month before assembly polls, these residents fear for their future in India, a country they became nationals of through a bilateral treaty with Bangladesh 11 years ago.


When the Election Commission made 2002 electoral rolls the reference point for SIR, former enclave-dwellers wondered how they would validate themselves — everyone or their parents was "officially" a Bangladeshi national then. The EC assured them the 2015 Land Boundary Agreement would be their document.

"We were told we would be treated as a special case and the enclave exchange list would be considered. But 80% of us failed to make the voters' list," said Jainal Abedin, a Madhya Mashaldanga resident.

On Aug 1, 2015, India and Bangladesh exchanged 162 enclaves, ending a centuries-old anomaly. Some 15,856 residents in 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India and 921 Indians from enclaves in Bangladesh became Indian nationals.

During the exchange, both govts and the Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (BBEECC) listed dwellers to receive Indian citizenship. The EC assured this list would be considered, yet these voters were placed "under adjudication."

These voters span Dinhata, Mathabhanga, and Mekhliganj constituencies, concentrated in Dinhata. All became voters after 2015 and participated in 2019, 2024 parliamentary and 2021 assembly polls.

Finding no solution, these voters plan to ask Bangladesh to intervene. "We were Bangladeshi nationals before the Land Boundary Agreement. The stalemate has left us desperate," Abedin said.

Diptiman Sengupta, who led the enclave exchange movement under BBEECC, said Cooch Behar DM assured him Monday all "adjudicated" voters would be included. "The DM said it was their responsibility to ensure these dwellers weren't left out and they were prioritising it," Sengupta said.