Citizenship Amendment Act rules likely to be notified before Lok Sabha election announcement: Sources

The rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), passed by both houses four years ago and enacted in 2019, are likely to be notified within the next month, according to sources from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), as reported by The Indian Express.

The contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, which gives citizenship to religious minorities from three neighbouring countries who settled in India before December 31, 2014. The CAA passage saw protests in several parts of the country.

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“I cannot tell you the date, but they will be notified before the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into force,” an official of the MHA stated.

The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will be enforced after the announcement of the dates for the upcoming polls by the Election Commission.

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Despite the CAA being passed four years ago, its implementation has been delayed due to the non-notification of rules. The forthcoming rules are expected to outline the evidence required by applicants to demonstrate their qualifications and eligibility under the new law.

The CAA allows non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to seek Indian citizenship through naturalisation, provided they belong to the Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Jain, and Buddhist communities. The legislation is based on the assumption that these communities faced religious persecution in the abovementioned Islamic countries.

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The new rules, expected to be announced soon, will focus on the documents needed to prove that applicants lived in Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh before December 31, 2014, and follow one of the religions mentioned in the Act.

Sources suggest that this can be achieved by providing any Indian government document where the applicant declared their religion as Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Jain, or Buddhist before December 31, 2014.

For instance, if someone enrolled their children in a government school, the religion would have been declared. Similarly, if someone obtained Aadhaar before December 31, 2014, and declared their religion as one of the six mentioned in the Act, it would be acceptable. Any form of government document declaring religion will be accepted, according to Indian Express sources.

The MHA may also consider Assam’s request to set a time limit for applying for citizenship under the CAA. Assam proposed a three-month period, expressing concerns that an open-ended application period could heighten worries about the CAA in the state.