The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016

• The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in Lok Sabha on February 24, 2016. It seeks to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Delimitation Act, 2002. These Acts regulate allocation of seats to the national and state legislatures, and delimitation (i.e., fixing boundaries) of parliamentary and assembly constituencies.
• According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the Bills aims to empower the Election Commission to carry out delimitation in areas that were affected by the enactment of the Constitution (100th Amendment) Act, 2015. Under the 2015 Act, enclaves were exchanged between India and Bangladesh. Enclaves are territories belonging to one country that are entirely surrounded by another country. India transferred 111 enclaves to Bangladesh, and received 51 enclaves from Bangladesh on July 31, 2015.
• The 1950 and 2002 Acts provide the Election Commission the responsibility to maintain up-to-date delimitation orders. Delimitation orders specify the boundaries of territorial constituencies. This responsibility includes: (i) correcting printing mistakes and inadvertent errors, and (ii) making necessary amendments if the name of any territorial division mentioned in the delimitation order has been altered.
• The Bill amends the Acts in order to give additional powers and responsibilities to the Election Commission. It states that the Election Commission may amend the delimitation order to: (i) exclude from the relevant constituencies the Indian enclaves that were transferred to Bangladesh, and (ii) include in the relevant constituencies the Bangladeshi enclaves that were transferred to India.

Land Boundary Agreement

• This agreement between Bengladesh and India was passed as 100th constitutional amendment.
• It enables operationalisation of the May 16, 1974 Land Boundary Agreement signed between then Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.
• After 1974 Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) signed between then Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, a protocol was signed between India and Bangladesh on September 6, 2011 to address the outstanding land boundary issues. It encompasses demarcation of undemarcated boundary, the territories in adverse possession and identification of exchange of enclaves. The protocol was prepared with support and concurrence of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal.
• There were 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India which were to be exchanged pursuant to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and 2011 Protocol and instruments of ratification of which were exchanged during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh on June 6-7, 2015.

By: Vishal