KOLKATA: Amid rumblings in former Bangladeshi enclaves in West Bengal, the Election Commission (EC) has decided to distribute enumeration forms marked with ‘Chhitmahal’ or ‘Enclaves’ status to thousands of enclave dwellers in Cooch Behar district during the ongoing SIR.

“Our names figured in the 2015 voter list when 51 Bangladeshi enclaves became Indian villages under the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) signed between India and Bangladesh the same year. We became the Indian citizens and close to 16,000 residents were recorded in the 51 enclaves during the LBA,” said Saddam Hossain, a resident of Puatur Kuthi enclave in Cooch Behar.

“How can we provide details of our Indian documents like Aadhaar or our parents’ names from the voter list of the last SIR in 2002? None of us had such records since we were Bangladeshis at that time,” he added.

“We have Aadhaar, PAN, voter IDs and ration cards, but all these documents were issued after July in 2015. But these are not valid enough for our Indian citizenship,” said Jainal Abedin of Madhya Masaldanga.

“Demanding inclusion of voters’ details from 2015 rolls, the residents of several enclaves have already sent back booth level officers (BLOs) engaged by the EC. With assurance of the commission we have decided to fill up enumeration forms, which are marked with ‘Chhitmahal’ and duly signed by BLOs during the exercise,” said Noor Nabi (26), a Toto operator of Masaldanga enclave.

“With instructions from the DEO office, we have assured the voters that enumeration forms would be marked with ‘Chhitmahal’ to avoid problems in inclusion of their names in the electoral rolls,” Susama Burman, a BLO said.