Mohammadi News Agency News – Features – Photo
MNA Editorial Desk: For the first time voters of the 100 former Indian enclaves are exercising their franchise as the polling of 22 Union Parishads (UPs) in those areas started on Monday morning. The polling started around 8am and will end 4pm.
The polling in those areas is being held simultaneously along with the polling in some 380 more UPs across the country, reported news agency..
Full-fledged election will be held in 59 UPs, while there will be by-elections to one chairman post and some member posts, reserved seats set aside exclusively for women in 67 UPs.
According to Election Commission (EC) data, a total of 8,935 voters from ex-enclaves will exercise their franchise in the UP elections in Panchagarh, while some 1,700 voters in eight UPs in Lalmonirhat and 3,098 in six UPs in Kurigram.
The voting schedules were declared for the UPs after making the eligible residents of ex-enclaves voters this year in September 26.
However, the India–Bangladesh enclaves, also known as the chitmahals and sometimes called pasha enclaves, were the enclaves along the Bangladesh–India border, in Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.
Within the main body of Bangladesh were 102 enclaves of Indian Territory, which in turn contained 21 Bangladeshi counter-enclaves, one of which contained an Indian counter-counter-enclave – the world’s only third-order enclave.
Within the Indian mainland were 71 Bangladeshi enclaves, containing 3 Indian counter-enclaves. A joint census in 2010 found 51,549 people residing in these enclaves: 37,334 in Indian enclaves within Bangladesh and 14,215 in Bangladeshi enclaves within India.
The prime ministers of India and Bangladesh signed the Land Boundary Agreement in 1974 to exchange enclaves and simplify their international border. A revised version of the agreement was adopted by the two countries on 7 May 2015, when the Parliament of India passed the 100th Amendment to the Indian Constitution.
Under this agreement, which was ratified on 6 June 2015, India received 51 Bangladeshi enclaves (covering 7,110 acres (2,880 ha)) in the Indian mainland, while Bangladesh received 111 Indian enclaves (covering 17,160 acres (6,940 ha)) in the Bangladeshi mainland.
