Voters of some 100 ex-Indian enclaves are exercising their franchise for the first time as the election of 22 union councils (UCs) in those areas started on Monday morning.

The voting began at 8:00am and will continue till 4:00 pm.

The voting in the now-defunct enclaves is being held simultaneously along with the polling in some 380 more UCs across the country.

In some 200 UCs, elections will be held in a few polling stations where the voting was earlier cancelled during the staggered countrywide UC elections held earlier this year, he added.

Full-fledged election will be held in 59 UCs, while there will be by-elections to one chairman post and some member posts, reserved seats set aside exclusively for women in 67 UCs. Some 65 UCs are going to polls as two candidates bagged equal votes in the countrywide UC elections.

In 100 of the 111 exchanged ex-enclaves situated in three northern districts— Panchagarh, Lalmonirhat and Kurigram—nearly 14,000 voters are applying their voting rights in the UC election, said officials at the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat.

Eight of the 22 UCs are in Panchagarh, eight in Lalmonirhat and six in Kurigram.

The 111 ex-Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh, which were merged with the mainland of Bangladesh in July 31, 2015 following the ratification of land boundary agreement (LBA) by Indian Loka Sabha and Rajya Sabha unanimously, include 12 in Kurigram, 59 in Lalmonirhat, four in Nilphamari and 36 in Panchagarh.

According to EC statistics, a total of 8,935 voters from ex-enclaves will exercise their franchise in the UC elections in Panchagarh, while some 1,700 voters in eight UCs in Lalmonirhat and 3,098 in six UCs in Kurigram.

In Panchagarh, 39 chairman candidates, 98 women from reserved seats and 326 member contenders are contesting the elections in eight UCs under Sadar, Boda and Debiganj UCazilas of the district.

In Lalmonirhat, 37 chairman candidates, 167 women from reserved seats and 213 member contenders are in the election race in eight UCs under Sadar, Hatibandha and Patgram UCazilas of the district.

In Kurigram, 32 chairman candidates, 90 women from reserved seats and 219 member contenders are contesting the elections in six UCs under Phulbari and Bhurungamari UCazilas of the district.

On September 26 last, the election schedules were announced for the UCs after making the eligible inhabitants of ex-enclaves voters this year.

Under the agreement, India exchanged 111 enclaves measuring 17,160 acres to Bangladesh and received 51 enclaves covering 7,110 acres, which all were located inside Cooch Behar, ending the decade-old sufferings of the people living in enclaves on both sides of Bangladesh and India.