IMPHAL — The Manipur High Court has barred authorities from launching Census operations in the conflict-scarred state until at least April 30, 2027.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice M. Sundar and Justice A. Guneshwar Sharma ruled that both the Union government and the Manipur administration must strictly abide by earlier postponement orders. The headcount cannot proceed under fractured ground realities. In its November 4 ruling, the bench disposed of two petitions that contested the Centre's plan to roll out house-listing—the opening phase of the 2027 Census—from September 1.
The petitions were filed by Imphal resident Shanta Singh Nahakpam alongside two influential civil society groups, the Kangleipak Students’ Association and the International Peace and Social Advancement. Their core argument was blunt: an accurate demographic count remains impossible while thousands of displaced citizens remain scattered in relief camps, chased from their homes by the ethnic violence that erupted in May 2023. Skewed numbers, the petitioners warned, would distort future delimitation of Assembly constituencies and permanently tilt the state's political map.
Several local groups have demanded an immediate update to the National Register of Citizens before census enumerators hit the ground. They also demanded a fresh count across specific hill districts based on 2001 Census figures to weed out alleged demographic anomalies.
The bench instructed the Registrar General of India and the Census Commissioner to scrutinise these pending representations on their own merits and issue a reasoned, detailed speaking order. The court also set a firm deadline, permitting the petitioners and other stakeholders to submit fresh representations by November 25.
Federal authorities had already slammed the brakes on the exercise once before. On August 31, the Union government abruptly deferred census activity in Manipur just 24 hours before house-listing was scheduled to commence. That midnight pause followed an urgent security review meeting in New Delhi chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to assess stability in the state, according to official records released by the Chief Minister's Secretariat.
No enumerators will fan out across the state's valleys or hills until the central registrar delivers its reasoned verdict on the pending representations.