Census 2027 brought forward in UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa; Manipur deferred

The Registrar General of India on 5 September advanced the population enumeration phase of Census 2027 in four states that go to the polls next year. Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and the non-snow-bound parts of Uttarakhand will be counted from 1 December 2026 to 4 January 2027. A revisional round runs from 5 to 9 January. The rest of the country, except snow-bound belts, is still scheduled for February 2027.

The notification was signed by Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, Registrar General and Census Commissioner. Residents in the four states may self-enumerate on a dedicated portal from 16 to 30 November, before enumerators begin house-to-house work on 1 December. The reference date for those states is 00:00 hours on 5 January 2027. For the rest of India it remains 1 March. Snow-bound areas of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh keep an earlier reference date of 1 October 2026.

A second notification deferred the Census in Manipur till further declaration. The Union government had taken that decision on 31 August. Civil society groups among Meitei and Naga communities have demanded a National Register of Citizens before any count in a state still living with the aftermath of ethnic violence.

Assembly terms explain the calendar. Goa, Punjab and Uttarakhand expire in March 2027. Uttar Pradesh expires in May. Seat counts are 40, 117, 70 and 403. Hindustan Times read the advance as a sign that those elections will be held on time rather than slipped to make room for a nationwide count. Business Standard made the same point.

The second phase of Census 2027 will carry 40 questions and an open field for caste. Respondents may decline to name a caste or say they belong to none. India is running this Census after a gap of nearly 15 years. The delay has already mixed the statistical file with the political one. Caste totals, if they are published in usable form, will arrive in the same season as four large Assembly contests.

An advanced count also changes what the Election Commission will have on its desk. Punjab is in SIR phase three as well as in this early Census window. Uttarakhand is in both. The two exercises answer different statutes, but they will knock on the same doors within months. Households that failed to return an SIR enumeration form will now face a Census form, then a revisional round, then a campaign.

Manipur sits outside that sequence. Deferral avoids a count the state government cannot securely run. It also leaves the state's population figures on the old base for longer than the rest of the country. That gap will be cited the next time funds, seats or registers are argued over.

The operational test starts on 16 November, when the self-enumeration portal opens in the four states. If take-up is thin, the December field force will have to do the work the portal was meant to save. If take-up is high, the January reference date will rest on a mixed file of self-reports and doorstep interviews. Either way, the four states will have a new official population before they vote.