"Yesterday, I spoke to the Union home secretary over the phone and asked when West Bengal would receive the authority, similar to Gujarat and Rajasthan, to process CAA applications," Adhikari said while addressing a citizenship certificate distribution programme at the New Town Convention Centre.

"Once this authority is vested with the West Bengal government, we will be able to have the district magistrates dispose of applications quickly," Suvendu added, claiming that the Union home secretary had assured him that the process of transferring the authority to the Bengal government would be completed within a month.

The chief minister said once the state received the authority, it would expedite the process and dispose of all pending CAA applications within six months. He urged those who had not yet applied for citizenship after entering India on or before December 31, 2024, to do so as soon as possible.

Currently, an empowered committee under the ministry of home affairs, of which the DM is a member, along with multiple central government officials, verifies CAA applications and decides whether an applicant is eligible for Indian citizenship.

A source has said that since the committee comprises officials from different central government departments, it takes considerable time to dispose of CAA applications
in Bengal.

In contrast, in states such as Gujarat and Rajasthan, DMs have been vested with the authority to decide on such applications. "If the DMs get the authority, the process of issuing citizenship certificates will become much faster," an official said.

Suvendu said that a total of 23,956 CAA certificates had been issued in Bengal so far, and during the 11 weeks since his government took charge, it had issued 5,966 certificates.

The total number of applicants is 230,605. Among the districts, Nadia has received the highest number of certificates so far, with 10,191, followed by North 24-Parganas with 8,930.

"Those who have not yet applied should do so. There was confusion regarding OBC, SC and ST certificates, but that has been clarified through a government circular. The application process will be simplified further," the chief minister said.

Suvendu said that once people received their citizenship certificates, it would be his government's responsibility to ensure that eligible people were enrolled on electoral rolls and the SC list.

Suvendu strongly condemned the Trinamool Congress's opposition to the CAA, alleging that the party had portrayed it as a form of the NRC to mislead people. He also claimed that people, particularly Muslims, were misled and provoked into violent protests, though the CAA was not an act to snatch anyone's citizenship.

The CAA had been a major political issue for both the BJP and Trinamool ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, in which the BJP came to power with 207 seats.

In many places, refugees who had come from Bangladesh because of religious persecution were allegedly asked not to apply for citizenship certificates because doing so would establish that they had migrated from another country.