New Delhi [India], June 5 (ANI): The central government on Wednesday announced that the Population Census-2027 will be conducted in two phases and will also include the enumeration of castes. Opposition parties accused the government of further delaying the nationwide enumeration exercise.

The Ministry of Home Affairs made the announcement in a statement, mentioning that the census will follow different reference dates depending on the region, in accordance with logistical and climatic factors.

'It has been decided to conduct Population Census-2027 in two phases along with the enumeration of castes,' the statement said.

Reacting to the announcement, Congress said that the government was further delaying the already late census. DMK alleged that the census would be held after the proposed delimitation and that there was a plan to reduce Tamil Nadu's Parliamentary representation.

According to the MHA statement, the reference date for the 'Population Census-2027 will be 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027, for most parts of the country.'

However, for the Union Territory of 'Ladakh, and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be 00:00 hours on October 1, 2026.'

The government has also indicated that a notification of intent to conduct the census, adhering to the above-mentioned timelines, will be published in the Official Gazette on June 16, 2025. This will be done under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948, which governs the legal framework for the decennial census exercise in India.The census, due in 2021, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Census 2027 is slated to be one of the most comprehensive data-gathering exercises undertaken by the Indian government.

Census of India is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990.The last Census of India was conducted in 2011 in two phases, namely i) Phase I - House Listing (HLO) (1 April to 30 September 2010) and (ii) Phase II - Population Enumeration (PE) (February 9 to February 28, 2011) with reference date - 00:00 hours of the first day of March 2011, except for snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for which it was conducted during September 11 to 30, 2010 with reference date as 00.00 hours of the first day of October 2010.

Census 2021 was also proposed to be conducted in two phases in a similar manner with phase I during April-September 2020 and second phase in February 2021. All the preparations for the first phase of the Census to be conducted in 2021 were completed and field work was scheduled to begin in some States/UTs from April 1, 2020. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic across the country, the census work was postponed.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X that there is really no reason to delay the Census, which was due in 2021, for another twenty-three months.

'The Modi Government is capable only of generating headlines, not meeting deadlines,' he said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the Indian Constitution mandates that delimitation must follow the first Census after 2026.

'The BJP has now delayed the Census to 2027, making their plan clear to reduce Tamil Nadu's Parliamentary representation. I had warned about this. It is now unfolding,' he said in a post on X.

He also hit out at AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami.

'By siding with the BJP, Palaniswami is not just silent but complicit in this betrayal. It's now clear that he has surrendered to Delhi's domination. The people of Tamil Nadu are united as one in their demand for a Fair Delimitation. We need clear answers from the Union Government,' he said. (ANI)