marxistindia

news from the cpi(m)

October 20, 2026 

Press Release 

M.A. Baby, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has written a letter to the Hon'ble President of India, seeking intervention for the withdrawal of the amendments to the Census rules. We are herewith releasing the text of the letter for publication. 

(Muralidharan) 

For CPI(M) Central Committee Office

Her Excellency the President of India 

Rashtrapati Bhavan 

New Delhi - 110004

Subject: Seeking Intervention - Withdrawal of Amendments to Census Rules

We are writing to you to express our grave concern over the amendments to the Census Rules, 1990, notified by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on October 16, 2026, and to seek your urgent intervention to protect the integrity, impartiality and confidentiality of the Census exercise underway.

The amendments, notified as the Census (Amendment) Rules, 2026, substantially expand the categories of persons who may be appointed as Census enumerators. The amendments allow the appointment of teachers from aided and unaided private educational institutions, employees and officials of institutions, societies and trusts. Even officials and clerical staff from public sector undertakings, statutory bodies, banks, companies and other institutions can also be drafted for Census work. What however is most worrying is that any person whom the State Government or Union Territory administration considers suitable can also be appointed.

It raises serious questions about the criteria for selection, the impartiality of those appointed, and the safeguards against partisan interference. The discretion granted to State Governments and Union Territory administrations, without clearly specified criteria or publicly accountable safeguards, creates considerable scope for arbitrary and politically motivated appointments.

The Census involves the collection of extensive personal information from every household and individual. They would be reluctant to share such information with persons in whom they don't have confidence. In the given political atmosphere the fear that the information they provide will be used to profile them politically, target particular communities, question their citizenship or exclude them from their legitimate rights and entitlements is genuine. Appointing private individuals, particularly those with political links to the ruling establishment erodes the very credibility of this exercise.

These concerns become particularly serious when viewed alongside the questionnaire notified for the second phase of Census 2027 on August 14, 2026. The questionnaire seeks a wide range of information, including religion of parents, details of bank accounts, Aadhaar and other IDs, passport and mobile number, among other details.

On August 24, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had submitted a memorandum to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, demanding that the collection of these personal details be stopped. The memorandum also called for stringent safeguards to ensure that Census data are not linked with other databases or diverted for purposes beyond those for which they are collected.

The concerns raised in that memorandum have acquired even greater urgency following the latest amendments to the Census Rules.

The experience of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has witnessed eligible citizens being excluded through opaque procedures, arbitrary documentation requirements etc. In this context, the prospect of collecting sensitive personal information on a nationwide scale, through an expanded and insufficiently regulated network of enumerators, is deeply troubling.

The Census is a national exercise that belongs to the people of India. It cannot be allowed to become an instrument to meet and serve the political interests of the party in power or its ideological affiliates.

The Census must not become another SIR. It must not be turned into an instrument of surveillance, citizenship determination or electoral exclusion. 

Under these circumstances, we appeal to you, as the constitutional head of the Republic, to intervene urgently and call upon the Union Government to withdraw these amendments and ensure that the Census is conducted in a manner consistent with constitutional principles and public trust.

(M. A. Baby) 

General Secretary