Centre announces dates for population census, to be held in two phases

The Union Home Ministry declared on Monday that the population census — the first in India since 2011 — will take place in two phases, on October 1, 2026, and March 1, 2027, respectively.

During the initial phase, referred to as the Houselisting Operation (HLO), information pertaining to assets, household income, living conditions, and available amenities will be gathered. For the first time, participants will have the opportunity to respond to the questions from home, as the next census will be India’s inaugural digital edition.

The second stage, Population Enumeration (PE), will collect demographic, socio-economic, cultural, and various personal details about each individual living in the household. For the first time since gaining Independence, caste counting will also be included in the Census process. In April, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw declared that the case census will be part of the forthcoming national census.

The announcement of Census 2027 paves the way for the Women’s Reservation Bill and the contentious delimitation process, which had been suspended since 1971 by several constitutional amendments. The Women’s Reservation Bill, which allocates one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies to women, can only be implemented following a census and a delimitation process.

Delimitation refers to the act of redefining constituency boundaries, considering their population. Nevertheless, the exercise was put on hold until 2000 by the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976. Later, the 84th Amendment Act of 2001 permitted the government to reorganize the territorial boundaries of constituencies within a state — without changing any Lok Sabha and state assembly seats — according to the 2001 Census.

In a manner, the 84th Amendment prolonged the freeze until the initial census following 2026.