Census 2027: Self-Enumeration From January 10, House-to-House Count From January 25
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a gazette notification (an official public notice of the government) fixing the dates for the second phase of Census 2027, called population enumeration (counting every person).
People can fill in their own details online through self-enumeration from January 10 to January 24, 2027. After that, census workers will go house to house from January 25 to February 28, 2027.
The reference date is 00:00 hours (midnight) of March 1, 2027. This means the census will show India's population as it stood at that exact moment.
This schedule does not apply to five poll-bound states (states with Assembly elections due): Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and the non-snow-bound parts of Uttarakhand already have an earlier window (December 1, 2026 to January 4, 2027, reference date January 5, 2027). For Manipur, the census stays deferred "till further declaration".
It also does not apply to Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. These areas were counted in September 2026 with a reference date of October 1, 2026, because heavy snow makes a February count impossible there.
The notification was issued under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948, read with Rules 6A and 6D of the Census Rules, 1990.
Census of India: Constitutional and Legislative Basis
The census is the official count of every person living in India, done once every ten years. Along with the headcount, it collects details such as age, sex, religion, language, education, work and housing. The Constitution puts "Census" in the Union List, so only Parliament can make laws on it. The actual work is done under the Census Act, 1948, by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, which works under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The new notification uses the power under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948 to fix the final counting dates for most of India. It also shows a long-standing census practice: snow-bound and poll-bound areas get their own dates, so that every area can be counted when it is practically possible.
Delimitation in India (Articles 82 and 170)
Delimitation means fixing how many seats each state gets in the Lok Sabha and in its Legislative Assembly, and drawing the boundaries of each constituency. It is done so that each elected member represents roughly the same number of people. The work is done by an independent Delimitation Commission, and its orders cannot be questioned in any court. Delimitation always uses census figures, which is why every census has political importance.
Once Census 2027 is completed, its figures can unlock the long-frozen readjustment of seats among states under Article 82, as well as women's reservation. That is why the exact timing of the population count, set out in this notification, matters far beyond statistics.
- Self-enumeration window: January 10 to January 24, 2027
- House-to-house population enumeration: January 25 to February 28, 2027
- Reference date for most of India: 00:00 hours, March 1, 2027
- Snow-bound areas (Ladakh; snow-bound J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand): reference date October 1, 2026
- Goa, UP, Punjab, non-snow-bound Uttarakhand: enumeration December 1, 2026 to January 4, 2027; reference date January 5, 2027
- Manipur: deferred "till further declaration"
- Legal basis: Section 3, Census Act, 1948; Rules 6A and 6D, Census Rules, 1990
- Census 2027: 16th census overall, 8th since independence, first digital census, includes caste enumeration (last full caste count: 1931)
- Houselisting phase: April 1 to September 30, 2026