The government on Monday evening issued a notification for the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, which comes into effect today weeks before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The CAA was cleared by Parliament in December 2019 amid protests by activists and opposition politicians.

Now that the notification has been issued, the central government can grant citizenship to persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain, or Christian communities – from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan – who came to India on or before December 31, 2014 to flee from religious persecution.

A spokesperson for the Home Ministry said eligible individuals could submit applications in “a completely online mode”. No other documentation will be sought from the applicants, one official said.

Implementation of the CAA was a major campaign platform for the BJP before the 2019 election.

Less than a month ago Home Minister Amit Shah called the CAA  “an act of the country” and said, “it will definitely be notified. CAA will come into effect before the election…”

The Home Minister – who led the government’s charge on this topic in both houses of Parliament – also played down fears the CAA, and the NRC, or National Register of Citizens, will be used to target Muslims.