Dhaka: Good news for enclave dwellers! The Election Commission (EC) has planned to enrol them as voters and providing them with national identity (NID) cards soon after the exchange of 162 enclaves between Bangladesh and India.

The EC will start registering eligible inhabitants of the enclaves as voters once the Home Ministry gives the green signal following the transfer of the enclaves –111 in Bangladesh and 51 in India.

The much-awaited transfer will begin on 31 July midnight in accordance with the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) 1974 and Protocol of 2011 to the Land Boundary Agreement.

The EC in its Tuesday's meeting discussed the issue and planned to take necessary preparations to enrol them as voters during the countrywide updating of the voter list, which is scheduled to begin in August next, said EC officials.

‘We'll make the Bangladeshi nationals living in the enclaves as voters whenever the government informs us that the exchange process of enclaves is over,’ said Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz.

He told UNB that the Commission will face no problem in enrolling the people of enclaves as voters within a short time as they are small in number.

The EC could not enrol Bangladeshi nationals residing in the enclaves adversely located within the Indian territories despite its several efforts since 2008 as it did not get clearance from the home and foreign ministries in this regard.

In reply to the Commission's letters in 2012 and 2014, the ministries informed the EC that the issue of exchanging enclaves between the two neighbouring countries was under active consideration.

Following the ratification of LBA by Indian Loka Sabha and Rajya Sabha unanimously in May last and exchange of historic instruments of ratification on LBA by two sides during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Bangladesh, the LBA will be implemented from the midnight of 31 July ending the decade-old sufferings of the people living in enclaves on both sides of Bangladesh and India.

Under the agreement, India will exchange 111 enclaves measuring 17,160 acres to Bangladesh and receive 51 enclaves covering 7,110 acres.

According to the India-Bangladesh first-ever joint headcount conducted in 2011, as many as 37,383 people live in 111 Indian enclaves, while 14,090 people in 51 Bangladeshi enclaves.

The 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh include 12 in Kurigram, 59 in Lalmonirhat, four in Nilphamari and 36 in Panchagarh, whereas all 51 Bangladeshi enclaves are located in Cooch Behar of India.

The matter of enclaves has its roots before 1947 during the pre-partition period of the Indian sub-continent.

According to the EC's statistics, now there are 96.20 million voters in the country.

Over 50,000 people living in the enclaves have little access to many basic services such as schools, clinics or utility services as they are cut off from their national governments.