Census 2027 to be conducted in two phases between April 2026 and February 2027

New Delhi: Census 2027 will be carried out in two phases, the first from April to September 2026 and the second in February 2027, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

Responding to a question by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said the two phases will be: Phase I – House Listing and Housing Census, followed by Phase II – Population Enumeration (PE).

The first phase, scheduled from April to September 2026, will be conducted over a period of 30 days, depending on the convenience of the state and union territory governments.

'Population Enumeration will take place in February 2027, with a reference date of 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027, except for Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where it will be conducted in September 2026 with a reference date of 00:00 hours on October 1, 2026,' the minister said.

He added that the census questionnaire is finalised after consulting various ministries, departments, organisations, and census data users.

Highlighting the historical significance of the exercise, the minister noted that the census has a history of over 150 years and lessons from previous exercises are taken into account for each new census.

In response to another question, the minister confirmed that caste enumeration will also be included in Census 2027, following the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs’ decision on April 30 this year.

He further said that Census 2027 will be conducted digitally, with data collected through mobile applications and an online self-enumeration option available to the public.