The rules for the implementation of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) for fast-tracking citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are likely to be issued before the Model Code of Conduct for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections comes into effect.
The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) gets enforced immediately after election schedule is announced, which is likely in next fortnight.
The rules for the CAA is likely to be issued before the MCC comes into effect, sources privy to the development said.
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 and it got president's assent subsequently.
However, the law could not be implemented so far as rules are a must for its implementation.
There were massive protests in some parts of the country after the CAA was passed by Parliament. Over a hundred people lost their lives during the protests or police action.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has readied a portal for the convenience of the applicants as the entire process will be online.
The applicants will have to declare the year when they entered India without travel documents. No document will be sought from the applicants, an official said.
According to the law, the benefits under the CAA will be given to the undocumented minorities from the three neighbouring countries.
On December 27, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that no one can stop the implementation of the CAA as it is the law of the land and accused the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading people on the issue.
Addressing a party meeting in Kolkata, Shah said it is the BJP's commitment to implement the CAA.
The TMC, led by Mamata Banerjee, has been opposing the CAA since beginning.
