SIR 2026: Hundreds of former enclave women at risk of missing Bengal draft electoral rolls

Kolkata: Adding another layer of complexity to the ongoing SIR exercise in West Bengal, residents of erstwhile enclaves in Cooch Behar on Friday submitted the names of around 450 women to the district administration, fearing they may be left out of the draft electoral rolls to be published on December 9.

These women, former residents of the 51 Bangladeshi enclaves which were inducted into the Indian mainland in August 2015, were not considered for headcount ahead of the enclave exchange that year since they got married prior and moved out to live with in-laws in various corners of the country.

The Election Commission had "verbally" assured that enclave dwellers who were not present in the 2002 electoral rolls, which form the basis for SIR 2026, would be included in the new rolls using the 2015 headcount records maintained by the district administration.

Residents, however, fear that married women living outside the enclaves might lose their voting rights.

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 historic exchange of enclaves.

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.

"We have prepared a list of about 450 women who were married before 2015 and living outside the enclave areas from four of the 51 enclaves — Madhya Mashaldanga, Dakshin Masaldanga, Poatur Kuthi and Kachua. We are expecting more such names to come from the rest of the enclaves, the list preparation of which is currently underway," said Jaynal Abedin, a former enclave dweller from Madhya Mashaldanga.

Abedin was among a group of enclave residents who had met the Cooch Behar district administration on Thursday after an EC delegation, led by its senior Deputy Election Commissioner, held a meeting with the district top brass in the presence of West Bengal CEO to oversee the SIR implementation progress.

"We were assured by an ADM that our concerns will be adequately addressed. Accordingly, we have handed him over the first set of lists of women who may fall on the commission's blind spot," he said.

Speaking to PTI earlier, West Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal had stated that the cases of enclave women married before 2015 would be separately handled by the district's Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).

"EROs will deal with such cases specifically as per EC guidelines. There's no need for them or anyone to worry. We are there for hand holding," Agarwal said.