Singhvi said that the “determination of citizenship lies exclusively with the Central government under Sections 8 and 9 of the Citizenship Act or with the courts and Foreigners Tribunals,” and not with ECI acting through Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
The Opposition Congress on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision affirming the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, calling it a "historic judgment" for the people of Assam.
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which grants Indian citizenship to immigrants who entered Assam between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971.
Previously, the bench observed that Section 6A was introduced as a humanitarian response to the aftermath of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, a key historical event.
The Union government asserted that the validity of a provision could not be assailed on the apprehension of the language, culture, and religious identities of Assamese people getting overshadowed by the presence of the immigrants from Bangladesh.
ED, which is probing the Popular Front of India (PFI) under the PMLA since 2018, has reportedly found that at least Rs 120 crore was deposited in 73 bank accounts in western UP after CAA was passed by Parliament late last year.
Besides showing their religious evidence, the applicants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain or Parsi faiths will also have to furnish documents to prove that they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
The probe agency has reportedly found that at least Rs 120 crore was deposited in 73 bank accounts in western Uttar Pradesh after the Act was passed by Parliament late last year.
In the American capital of Washington DC, more than 500 Indian Americans marched from a park near the White House to the Gandhi Statue in front of the Indian Embassy.
The resolutions, set to be debated in the European Parliament next Wednesday and voted the day after, come less than two months before PM Modi is likely to travel to Brussels for the India-EU summit on March 13.
