Census in four poll-bound states to begin on December 1

Population enumeration for Census 2027 will take place in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and parts of Uttarakhand from December 1, 2026, to January 4, 2027, the Registrar General of India (RGI) said on Saturday, advancing the exercise in the states scheduled to go to polls early next year.

In a gazette notification, the RGI and Census Commissioner of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan said the citizens in these areas can avail the option for self-enumeration from November 16 to November 30, 2026. “The conduct of the 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 1st December, 2026 to 4th January, 2027 with a revisional round from 5th January, 2027 to 9th January, 2027,” the notification said.

According to a gazette notification issued last month, the population enumeration in Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand would take place from September 1 to 30.

The self-enumeration window was opened for these regions from August 17 to 31. In June last year, the government had announced the Census reference date for the country, except for Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, to be 00.00 hours of March 1, 2027.

The population enumeration for the remaining country is likely to begin in February next year, barring snow-bound regions, during which data on various demographic, socio-cultural and economic parameters, along with migration and fertility characteristics of individuals from each household, will be collected.