The rules for Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) are likely to be issued before the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections comes into effect, multiple reports have cited sources as saying.
The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) gets enforced immediately after election schedule is announced, which is likely in next fortnight.
Under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA), citizenship is to be granted to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
When the rules for the CAA are issued, the Modi government will start granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had come to India till December 31, 2014.
The CAA was passed in December 2019 by Parliament and it got president's assent subsequently, however, as rules are a must for its implementation, the law has not been implemented so far. The passage to CAA by Parliament sparked massive protests in parts of the country.
According to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, the rules for any legislation should have been framed within six months of presidential assent or seek extension from the Committees on Subordinate Legislation in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
'No Document To Be Sought'
The Ministry of Home Affairs has readied a portal for the convenience of the applicants as the entire process will be online, a news agency PTI report mentioned, adding that the applicants will have to declare the year when they entered India without travel documents.
No document will be sought from the applicants, the report quoted an official as saying.
According to the law, the benefits under the CAA will be given to the undocumented minorities from the three neighbouring countries.
Last year, Home Minister Amit Shah had said that no one can stop the implementation of the CAA as it is the law of the land. Among the many opponents of CAA, one is West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee, who Shah has accused of "misleading people" on the issue.
Implementing the controversial CAA was a major poll promise of the BJP in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in West Bengal. BJP leaders consider it a plausible factor that led to the rise of the party in Bengal.
