Political parties go all out to woo enclave voters

Coochbehar (WB), May 4: With the enclave residents all set to vote for the first time since Independence, the new voters are being aggressively wooed by various political parties, who are taking credit for resolving the 68-year old border dispute. "It is our government which has resolved this enclave problem.

None of the previous state governments could address the same. But we had solved this problem and given you the rights," Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said at various rallies in Coochbehar district.

Banerjee's comments are echoed by party's district President Rabindranath Ghosh who promised to usher in development if TMC won in Coochbehar. The BJP, which is heading the NDA government at the Centre, also took the credit of resolving the enclave problems.

"It was our government at the Centre that took the initiative and solved the problem. We have been with the people of enclaves from the very beginning and our government has been very proactive," BJP National Secretary Rahul Sinha said.

The 51 enclaves are spread across Dinhata, Mekliganj, Sitai, Sitalkuchi and Toofanganj Assembly constituencies, with over 14864 residents has over 9776 registered voters. The six Assembly constituencies were Mekhliganj (584), Sitalkuchi (1980), Sitai (1362), Dinhata (5605), Natabari (0) and Tufanganj (9).

Out of 9540 eligible voters 9209 enrolled themselves to vote on May 5 in 41 polling stations. There were 567 more voters among the 922 people in the settlements in Coochbehar.

PTI