New Delhi: India’s long-delayed national census, including caste enumeration, will be conducted on March 1, 2027, with Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, and hilly areas beginning early in October, 2026, paving the way for the post-census delimitation of constituencies.
The Government of India has notified that the 16th census started on March 1, 2027 and will continue until 5th September, 2028, with the reference date of the 1st day of March 2027 as the date of determining the population data. The two-phase exercise, postponed from late 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will involve house listing and population enumeration. Mountain states such as Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, and parts of Uttarakhand, which are snowbound areas, will have the option to begin the census process earlier on October 1, 2026, to ensure that the voting process occurs before snowfall begins.
The census will, for the first time since 1931, have a caste enumeration, also meeting a demand from opposition parties and a section of the NDA, including JD(U) and LJP. The government expects to finish the census by 2026, publishing the data by March 2025. It would set off the delimitation exercise to redraw Lok Sabha and state assembly constituencies, which is a constitutional mandate but has been kept in suspended animation since 1976, with the freeze taking effect from the 84th Amendment Act.
The delimitation process, which is expected to be finalised by 2028, will redraw the boundaries of constituencies based on the 2027 census data and may increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to approximately 753, up from the current 543. It will also pave the way for one-third reservation for women in the upper house of Parliament, as stipulated in the Women’s Reservation Bill, in place for the 2029 polls.
Responding to concerns from southern states, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that delimitation would not impact the representation of the South, despite its success in controlling the population. “Not even a single seat will be lost for the southern states,” Shah said, addressing concerns in Tamil Nadu and Kerala that they would cede political power to more populous northern states like Uttar Pradesh.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh urged an all-party meeting to discuss the caste enumeration details; Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh rejected the demand and said he would hold “our own all-party meeting”; LJP MP Shambhavi Chaudhary backed the caste count, asserting, “It is required for framing policies for downtrodden sections, but the data should be kept secret for governance.” Opinions on X were mixed, with some cheering the caste census as a measure of social justice and others fearing political abuse.
When the 2011 census was carried out, India’s population was 121.1 crore, and Uttar Pradesh was the most populous state at 19.95 crore. Forecasts indicate that the 2027 census will revamp crucial indices, such as literacy, sex ratios, and urbanisation, thereby determining policy and resource allocations.
It is this caste census, followed by the subsequent delimitation, that presents a crucial turning point for both India’s political and social configuration of the future. As the country gears up for this gargantuan exercise, the challenge of reconciling regional sentiment while striving for fair representation will be central to preserving federal equilibrium and promoting democratic reform.
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