Congress flags Registrar General’s remarks, says no reason for “bulldozing” Constitution amendment bills

The Congress on Monday (March 30, 2026) cited Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan’s remarks that many Census data sets will be published in 2027, to claim that the grounds on which Constitution amendment bills are being sought to be “bulldozed” through Parliament are “false”.

Mr. Narayan, the Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner, asked people to give accurate information to Census enumerators, asserting that the individual data will remain confidential and cannot be used as evidence or for getting any benefit under any scheme.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Narayan said, “Earlier, data was collected on physical paper, which took a lot of time in digitisation. We will start getting digital data right from the start, hence we will be able to issue such data very early. Many data sets will be published in 2027 itself.”

The government was planning to bring bills to ensure that the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill, passed in September 2023, is implemented even before the delimitation exercise for Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies, which can be carried out only after the census is completed.

The law is officially known as the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act.

Last week, the Congress asked why the government was in a “great hurry” to amend the women’s quota law. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge has demanded that an all-party meeting be held on the matter after the current round of Assembly elections is completed in April.

The government has notified 33 questions that will be put to citizens during the first phase of the Census houselisting and housing enumeration, starting April 1.

Questions such as the material used in house flooring and roof, the number of married couples living there, sex of the head of the household, type of cereal consumed, access to basic and modern necessities, and types of vehicles owned shall be put forth during the first phase.