Provisional Census data to be available by March-April 2027: J&K and Ladakh Census chief

The provisional data for Population Census 2027 will be available by March or April next year, according to Amit Sharma, Chief Principal Census Officer and Director of Census Operations for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Ladakh became the first of India’s Union Territories and States to complete the entire Census exercise, ahead of the rest of the country where the exercise is scheduled to finish in February 2027. This is the first digital Census and the first in independent India to enumerate caste, other than Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

On several occasions, people confused the Census exercise with the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Mr. Sharma said on Tuesday.

“We had to explain to the people that Census and SIR are different; while SIR is done by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Census is done every ten-years,” he said, explaining the initiatives taken to publicise the Census exercise.

Advance enumeration

Other than Ladakh, the second phase or Population Enumeration (PE) phase also concluded in the snow-bound areas of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir on September 30, with a revisional round from October 1 to 5.

On September 5, the PE phase was advanced in the poll-bound States of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Goa, scheduled to take place from November 16, 2026 to January 4, 2027, ahead of the nationwide enumeration planned for February 2027. The Union government also formally deferred the Census exercise in conflict-ridden Manipur “till further declaration.”