Census 2027 moves to the headcount, with caste on the form and poll-bound states first

Census 2027, India’s first census since 2011, is moving from counting houses to counting people. The house listing phase was scheduled to run between April and September 2026, and the government has notified the 40 questions every person will be asked in the population count, including their caste.

Four states that go to the polls in 2027 will be counted first. A gazette notification dated 5 September 2026 sets population enumeration in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and the non-snow-bound parts of Uttarakhand from 1 December 2026 to 4 January 2027.

House listing winds down

Phase 1 covered house listing and housing. Each state or Union Territory got 30 days for house-to-house work, with an optional 15-day self-enumeration window before it, according to an ANI report of 1 September.

West Bengal started late, with self-enumeration from 1 to 15 August. Its house-to-house listing ran from 16 August to 14 September, and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on X that the state had completed all its fieldwork.

West Bengal has achieved 100pc fieldwork completion for Census Phase 1 well within the deadline of September 14, 2026

LokVox could not find a national completion figure from the Registrar General.

Caste on the form

On 14 August the Union Home Ministry issued a gazette notification under the Census Act, 1948, signed by Registrar General Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, listing 40 questions for the population count. Question 10, which asked only about Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe status in 2011, now reads “SC/ST/Caste”, Business Standard reported.

India last recorded caste across all groups in 1931; every census since independence has recorded only SC and ST status. Other new questions cover Aadhaar number, mobile number, the number of bank accounts, digital literacy and where a person received a Covid-19 vaccine.

The notification did not come with a pre-set list of castes. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said such a list, like those used in the Bihar and Telangana caste surveys, had been widely expected.

This has, unfortunately, not happened, raising serious doubts on intent.

Four states go early

In Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and non-snow-bound Uttarakhand, residents can count themselves online from 16 to 30 November 2026. Door-to-door enumeration follows from 1 December to 4 January, with a revisional round from 5 to 9 January 2027. The reference date in these states is midnight on 5 January 2027.

Business Standard linked the change to assembly elections: the terms of the Goa, Punjab and Uttarakhand assemblies end in March 2027 and Uttar Pradesh’s in May 2027. The notification itself gives no reason.

Census 2027: the schedule

1. Apr–Sep 2026Phase 1: house listing and housing census, state by state
2. 14 Aug 202640 population enumeration questions notified, including caste
3. Sep 2026Population count in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand (reference date 1 Oct 2026)
4. 16–30 Nov 2026Self-enumeration in UP, Punjab, Goa and non-snow-bound Uttarakhand
5. 1 Dec 2026–4 Jan 2027Door-to-door count in those four states (reference date 5 Jan 2027)
6. Feb 2027Population count in the rest of India (reference date 1 Mar 2027)

The rest of India

Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were counted in September 2026, with a reference date of 1 October 2026. Everywhere else, enumeration is scheduled for February 2027 with a reference date of 1 March 2027, according to Business Standard.

Business Standard describes Census 2027 as the first to be conducted digitally, with an option for people to enumerate themselves.