LIVE: Supreme Court to hear pleas challenging constitutional validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act

The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday (February 19, 2026), over 250 petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and its Rules. | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Supreme Court is scheduled hear on Thursday (February 19, 2026), over 250 petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and its Rules, which accelerate the grant of Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The petitions are scheduled before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.

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The case had come up last in 2024 before a Bench led by then Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for the petitioners, had then argued that the Act came into existence in 2019, and the government had waited for nearly five years to notify the Rules. “Once the process of grant of citizenship starts under this Act, it cannot be reversed,” Mr. Sibal had submitted in an oral mentioning.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appears for the Union government. The Centre had challenged the locus standi of the petitioners to question whether or not the Centre could grant citizenship.

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