Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: Ahead of elections 2014, the Union Government today notified the long-awaited controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The CAA was enacted by Parliament on December 11, 2019.

Last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the CAA will be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections this year.

The controversial legislation had sparked widespread protests across the country following its passage in 2019.

The CAA, which was a campaign promise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, provides a fast-track pathway for non-Muslim immigrants belonging to Muslim-majority countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan -- who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, due to facing religious persecution in their home countries, to apply for Indian citizenship.