India, April 13 -- 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...