Month after CAA notification, only one application in Assam

Only one application has so far been received for citizenship under the CAA in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday.

The lone application was made in Barak Valley, he said, without elaborating further.

"The anti-CAA movement was based on lies and they (who were at the forefront) will have to answer now. So many days have passed, and only one application has been made in the state till date," Sarma said.

The CM was talking to reporters after an election rally at Sonari in Sivasagar district, which comes under the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat.

The Centre had last month implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, notifying the rules four years after the law was passed by Parliament to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

Sarma also said “there will be no contest” in the five constituencies going to polls in the first phase on April 19.

Among the remaining nine seats where polling will be held in two more phases, he said there will be a contest in one constituency each, though he did not name those.

"If we consider BJP's performance in the 2021 assembly polls, even after delimitation, we are in the lead," the chief minister said.

Sarma also claimed that there will be “no one left” in the Congress by 2026.