Implementation of SIR in Bengal
Kolkata, Nov 6: Saddam Hossain, a resident of Powaturkuthi, a former Bangladeshi enclave in Cooch Behar district, refused to accept his enumeration forms for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls when the Block Level Officer came knocking on his door.
So did a vast majority of the 15,000-odd inhabitants of the former enclaves in the district who were awarded 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.
The reason: anxiety of disenfranchisement grips these new citizens as none were enlisted as voters in the 2002 electoral rolls – as is required for automatic qualification to the SIR 2026 rolls – and a significant number of them do not possess the 11 documents enlisted by the ECI to guarantee their names in the final list the poll body will publish post the scrutiny process.
Amid the ongoing visit of a special ECI delegation to the state to review the implementation of the SIR exercise, this is not the only hiccup confronting the commission, as concerns get raised from various other quarters.
“There is no clarity from the ECI yet on our fate since neither us nor our parents were on the 2002 voters list and will not be able to fill up the second set of columns on the enumeration forms,” Hossain told PTI, while waiting outside the office of the District Magistrate-cum-District Electoral Odfficer (DEO) in Cooch Behar town on Thursday to meet him and seek answers.
“Most of us do not possess the 11 indicative documents listed out by the commission to prove our citizenship and eligibility to vote, once hearing notices get served after the draft rolls are published on December 9. What happens if our names get deleted from the electoral rolls of SIR 2026? Will we lose our citizenship again?” he added in justification of the enumeration form refusal.
Merely a decade has passed since the residents of the erstwhile enclaves were relieved from the ignominy of being considered stateless entities and awarded Indian citizenship after authorities granted them identity documents like EPIC, PAN, and Aadhar cards.
Many were granted lease rights to reside on the 7,110-acre land transferred to the Indian side during the exchange, but residents allege that the ‘Khatiyans’ (record of rights) were flawed. (PTI)
