Benimadhab Barman, 60, a resident of Dakshin Masaldanga in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar, was among those granted Indian citizenship when India and Bangladesh ended a decades-old border dispute and exchanged 162 landlocked islets (enclaves) in 2015. With the citizenship came the right to vote in the world’s largest democracy.
Over a decade later, Barman is among the people staring at an uncertain future again. They have lost their voting rights as their names were struck off the electoral roll as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
“We are a four-member family. My wife, our two children, and I. All our names were under adjudication. My name has been deleted. My wife and children passed the SIR test and have been enrolled in the voter list,” said Barman.
Barma’s Dakshin Masaldanga village was among 51 erstwhile Bangladeshi enclaves transferred to India in July 2015, as per the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and Protocol of 2011. All 14,864 residents of the former Bangladeshi enclaves in India opted for Indian citizenship. As many as 989 persons out of 38,521 residents of erstwhile Indian enclaves in Bangladesh opted to retain their original nationality.
In December 2015, the government told Parliament that all those who opted for Indian citizenship were granted it. It added that the process of including all 14,864 dwellers of the erstwhile 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in the National Population Register was completed in October 2015, and the process of issuing Aadhar Cards and Ration Cards was initiated.
Barman said he has been told to move the appellate tribunal. “I have applied online from the nearest computer shop [cyber café]. There, I came to know that the names of many others, who were under adjudication, have also been deleted,” Barman said.
Kabiruddin Sheikh, 30, another resident of Mashaldanga, who runs a cyber cafe and sells seeds and fertilizers, said names of four of his family members were under adjudication, and they have all been cleared. “The name of my sister, who lives with her husband in another village, has been deleted.”
Osman Gani Sheikh, a resident of Dakshin Masaldanga, said he and his four family members were included in the electoral roll, while his cousin, mother, grandmother, and his aunt were sent for adjudication. “After the adjudication, while my cousin’s name was cleared, the other names have been deleted. We have submitted the documents, including Aadhaar Card and voter ID number, before the tribunal.”
Of the 1,191 electors enrolled at the Dakshin Mashaldanga Community Hall polling booth under the Dinhata assembly constituency, as many as 630 names were under adjudication. Around 200 voters of the 1,158 electors enrolled at the Gaochulka Junior Basic School polling station were also under adjudication.
An official said those who have been dropped from the voter roll after adjudication need to move to the appellate tribunals. “We have received several appeals from deleted voters, both online and offline. It is not possible to say how many are former enclave dwellers.”
Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee head Diptiman Sengupta said that of the 15,000 or so former enclave dwellers, around 12,800 were voters in 2015. “The number has now increased to around 13,500 to 14,000. Over 8,000 names came under adjudication. Around 360-370 names have been deleted. The rest have been included in the voter list. We are providing all kinds of support to these deleted voters so that they can appeal before the tribunals.”
The former enclave dwellers are spread across six assembly constituencies in Cooch Behar district—Dinhata, Sitalkuchi, Mekhliganj, Sitai, Natabari, and Mathabhanga. Around 50% of their population is concentrated in Dinhata. The former enclave dwellers are one of the deciding factors in two seats.
Ajay Roy, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Dinhata candidate, claimed several thousand more Bangladeshis crossed over to India illegally and settled in the bordering towns and villages, apart from around 15,000 granted Indian citizenship in 2015. “The SIR will also flush them out. They would have to leave India in the same way they entered the country, crawling under the barbed wires along the international border,” he said.
In 2021, the BJP won seven of Cooch Behar’s nine assembly constituencies. The TMC bagged two. Ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s Udayan Guha won the Dinhata seat after former Union minister Nisith Pramanik vacated it. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the TMC led the BJP in five seats, including Dinhata and Sitalkuchi.
Rafikul Sheikh, a resident of another former enclave of Batrigachh whose name has been deleted, said there was a lot of apprehension about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens in 2024. “This might have gone against the BJP. The SIR has had a huge impact as many people have come under adjudication,” he said
TMC leader Partha Bhowmick said those granted citizenship in 2015 have been put under adjudication and slammed the Election Commission of India, accusing it of being a BJP agent and not abiding by the Constitution.