Census 2027: Centre prepones population count in poll bound UP, Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab

The self-enumeration facility in these four states, RGI added on Saturday, will be available from November 16 to November 30 this year

Published on: Sep 5, 2026, 20:43:47 IST

By Neeraj Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The Centre decided to prepone the population enumeration exercise of the Census 2027 in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand, four states where the assembly elections are due next year, according to a notification issued on Saturday.

According to the notification, the reference date for Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and areas other than snowbound areas of Uttarakhand “shall now be 00.00 hours of January 5, 2027”. (HT File Photo)

The move is significant as the population enumeration phase for the entire country (except snowbound states and areas) is otherwise scheduled to be held in February next year. The decision indicates that the assembly elections in these four states - expected in the first quarter of 2027 - are likely to be conducted as per the existing schedule rather than being postponed due to overlapping with the Census exercise.

“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 Uttarakhand, from December 1, 2026 to January 4, 2027 with a revisional round from January 5 to January 9,” according to a gazette notification issued by Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, the registrar general of India, regarding the decision to advance the phase.

A revision round is a short follow-up after the main field visits where enumerators go back to the houses to update the population count. It has been done historically and is meant to keep the data updated, in case there are any changes in the household since the first visit.

Also Read:Census 2027 and politics of counting caste

The self-enumeration facility in these four states, RGI added on Saturday, will be available from November 16 to November 30 this year, just before the field visits by enumerators begin.

The change in dates for population count in these four states has advanced the reference date - the point at which all the data collected is treated as valid. According to the notification, the reference date for Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and areas other than snowbound areas of Uttarakhand “shall now be 00.00 hours of January 5, 2027”.

As announced by the government in June last year, the population enumeration for the rest of the country will take place in February while it is currently underway in Ladakh, and snowbound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. As previously decided, the reference date for the rest of the country will be March 1, 2017. It is October 1 this year for Ladakh, and snowbound areas of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Also Read:11 more questions, caste, Aadhaar, mobile number, Covid-19 vaccine status: What’s new in Census 2027

Officials who didn’t want to be named said “the dates for poll-bound states have been advanced to have manpower available for elections as well as Census, because a large number of staff used in both the exercises are teachers or state government staff”.

In a separate notification on Saturday, the RGI notified its earlier decision to defer the Census exercise in Manipur “till further declaration”.

The Union government had taken the decision on August 31 to defer the Census in Manipur amid mounting violence and demands by large chunks of the population to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before conducting the population enumeration exercise.

The Census, originally scheduled for 2021, was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Census 2027 is also the first to be conducted using digital tools, with enumerators using a dedicated mobile application alongside the traditional door-to-door process.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Chauhan
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.Read More

Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather major national developments and Karnataka Bandh LIVE.