New Delhi: The next will be conducted in two phases, the Central government informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The first phase will be held between April and September 2026, and the second phase in February 2027.
Phase I will be of House Listing and Housing Census, and Phase II of Population Enumeration (PE), Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in response to a question by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.
The first phase, between April and September 2026, will be conducted in a period of 30 days in accordance with the convenience of state/UT governments.
“Population Enumeration will be done in February 2027 with reference date 00:00 hours of 1st March, 2027 except for the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where it will be done in September, 2026 with reference date 00.00 hours of 1st October, 2026,” the minister stated.
The Census questionnaire is being finalised on the basis of inputs and suggestions from different ministries, departments, organisations and census data users before each exercise.
The minister said Census 2027 will be conducted through digital means, with data to be collected through mobile apps along with online provision for self-enumeration.
Rai further said the Census has a history of more than 150 years, and learnings from previous exercises are being taken into consideration for conducting the next Census.
As decided by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs earlier this year, the minister reiterated that caste enumeration will also be done in the Census.
