Spectre of statelessness grips former enclave-dwellers as SIR hits identity

Dinhata: Munawwara Bibi runs her finger slowly down a voter list taped to the wall of her local panchayat office. "My name was here during the Lok Sabha polls... how can it disappear," the 65-year-old homemaker murmurs. It's her fourth visit to the office since SIR led to the deletion of her name from the voter list in Cooch Behar's Madhya Mashaldanga. Merely a day before the election, she keeps on hoping.

For decades, the residents of former enclaves lived in a legal void, without schools, hospitals, govt services or the right to vote. When the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement was implemented in 2015, citizenship was supposed to end that history of exclusion. Yet, a decade later, many in these settlements say they are once again being pushed to the margins, this time by SIR.




Munawwra is among more than 2,500 whose names have been deleted from a voter base of over 14,000 in Cooch Behar's former enclaves. In Madhya Mashaldanga, 88 of 397 enclave voters have allegedly been removed. In Dakshin Mashaldanga, 80 out of 1,191 names are missing. In Kachua, 48 of 380 have been deleted. In Poaturkuthi, 71 out of 1,910 are gone. The pattern stretches across the settlements.

Many residents trace the cruel cut to the use of 2002 electoral rolls as a reference point. Enclave residents were not Indian citizens at that time. "We were told we would be treated as special cases and that enclave exchange lists would be considered," says Madhya Mashaldanga's Saddam Hussain. Officials, however, have blamed spelling mistakes, mismatches and legacy record errors. "We know these people are genuine and have lived here for decades," a BLO said. "But our seniors said there are mismatches. When we insisted, they said, ‘let papers do the talking'."

For residents, losing their right to vote is larger than paperwork. It is about being forced yet again to prove their existence.

Men and women who once waited years for citizenship are now spending their days carrying Aadhaar cards, old voter slips and citizenship papers from office to office. The fallout is visible across Dinhata, Sitai and Mathabhanga. Courtesy frequent visits to offices, farm work has been neglected. Migrant workers have returned from other cities and families are losing wages.

For older residents, disenfranchisement has touched a raw nerve. The memory of statelessness has been evoked and the anxiety runs beyond households with deleted voters. In village after village, residents are checking lists repeatedly, with an odd fear that exclusion can happen without warning. "Today it is my neighbour's name, tomorrow it could be mine," said Hasina Banu.

Some locals and community leaders allege that a disproportionate number of deletions have affected Muslim families, though no official data has been released. This has deepened suspicion in settlements where trust in state systems has always been fragile.

"People in other parts of Bengal are asking for better roads and work as they vote," said Abdul Karim. "We are only asking that we be allowed to vote."
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