Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Thursday that the first citizenships under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA will be issued before the last phase of the election. “Applications have begun to arrive. Scrutiny is underway as per the regulations,” Shah stated in an interview. “I anticipate that the process of granting citizenship will commence before the final phase of the elections.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government implemented the CAA in March, facilitating citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014. This move comes four years after Parliament passed the law in December 2019.
The notification of the Act drew criticism from Opposition leaders, who deemed the notified rules “unconstitutional,” “discriminatory,” and contrary to the “secular principle of citizenship” enshrined in the Constitution.
During the interview, Shah expressed confidence in the NDA’s ambition to surpass 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. “You will witness on counting day (June 4, 2024), before 12:30 pm, NDA will exceed 400, and Modi ji will once again assume the position of Prime Minister,” Shah assured News 18. “My party’s team and I have conducted a comprehensive analysis. We are progressing towards the third phase with well over 100 seats from the initial two. I foresee no obstacle in achieving the target of 400.”
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Regarding the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Shah remarked, “They failed to appear despite multiple summons. Had they complied after the initial summon, they would have been apprehended six months prior to the elections. Despite numerous summons, they did not cooperate.”
Addressing the low voter turnout in the initial two phases, Shah attributed it to several factors. “There are numerous reasons for the decreased turnout. Electoral rolls have been revised after twelve years. Additionally, the lack of competition from the opposing side impacts the turnout to some extent.”
More than 10 days after Phase 1 and four days after Phase 2 of polling for the ongoing general elections, the Election Commission of India (EC) released the final voter turnout figures for the two rounds on April 30. Phase 1 recorded a turnout of 66.14%, while Phase 2 saw 66.7%, indicating a slight decrease of under 4 percentage points for the first phase and under 3 percentage points for the second phase compared to the 2019 elections.
