NEW DELHI: The Centre has decided to advance the population enumeration phase of Census 2027 in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab and non-snow-bound areas of Uttarakhand — given that all four states are due for assembly polls early next year — to the time period December 1, 2026 to January 4, 2027, with January 5, 2027 as the reference date. This will be preceded by a 15-day self-enumeration window in the four states from November 16 to 30, 2026.The first phase of Census in Manipur, which is also due for assembly polls in February-March next year, was recently postponed in view of demands from within the state to hold the national register of citizens (NRC) exercise first.The advancing of the population enumeration phase in the four other poll-bound states will avert the logistical challenges that may have arisen on account of a clash between the usual timeline for census and the assembly elections. Both elections and census rely on the same pool of govt employees — largely teachers — for their conduct.Conventionally, the second phase of census — involving population enumeration — is held countrywide, other than in snow-bound areas of a few states/Union territories, in the month of February, with March 1, as the reference date.
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The population enumeration phase in the snow-bound areas of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and the whole of Ladakh is currently underway and will be completed by the end of this month.“The conduct of Census of the population shall be undertaken in the states of Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and areas other than snow-bound areas of the State of Uttarakhand, from December 1, 2026 to January 4, 2027 with a revisional round from January 5, 2027 to January 9, 2027,” the home ministry stated in a notification issued late on Saturday.Five states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur — are set to go to polls in February-March next year. While the term of the Manipur assembly is expiring on March 13, 2027, that of Goa assembly ends on March 14, 2027; Punjab assembly on March 16, 2027; Uttarakhand assembly on March 28, 2027; and Uttar Pradesh assembly on May 22, 2027.Census 2027, apart from being the first ‘digital’ census, will capture ‘caste’ for the first time since 1931.
