Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee President Keshav Mahto Kamlesh along with state Cabinet Ministers and party MLAs Dipika Pandey Singh, Irfan Ansari, and party workers raise slogans as they take out a protest rally to the Lok Bhavan, demanding a separate column for OBCs in the Census questionnaire, in Ranchi, on September 16, 2026.
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Jharkhand Congress on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) took out a protest march to the Lok Bhavan, demanding a separate column for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the Census questionnaire. Jharkhand Congress chief Keshav Mahto Kamlesh led the march, which started from Bapu Vatika at Ranchi’s Morabadi ground.
Senior leaders of the party, including State Finance Minister Radhakrishna Kishore, Health Minister Irfan Ansari, MPs and MLAs, participated in the around 2-km march that culminated near the Lok Bhavan. During the march, Congress workers raised slogans highlighting issues related to the representation and rights of the OBC community.
Later, a 10-member Congress delegation met the Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar and submitted a memorandum outlining their demands. The delegation also included AICC Secretary Amba Prasad, OBC Congress In-charge Yogendra Yogi, and OBC Congress State President Nishant Jaiswal.
Congress leaders emphasised to the Governor the necessity of revealing data regarding the actual population and socio-economic status of the OBC community through the caste census. To achieve this, they demanded a provision for a separate column for OBCs in the census form.
The delegation stated that social, economic, and political representation, as well as the effective implementation of welfare schemes, can only be realised based on accurate population figures.
The Congress leaders urged the Governor to convey this demand to the Central Government through appropriate channels. Party leaders asserted that obtaining accurate population data for the OBC community would strengthen the factual basis for policy formulation and decisions regarding representation.
Mr. Kishore pointed out that the OBC population is around 65% in the country. “There is a column for ST and SC, then why not for OBCs, who contributed significantly to the country’s growth,” he said.
Field visits for house-listing and household data collection under the first phase of Census 2027 started on May 16 and were completed on June 14, 2026, in Jharkhand. The 2027 Census exercise in the State is being carried out across 24 districts, 51 urban local bodies, and 264 blocks, covering a total of 32,459 villages. The second phase of the census will be carried out from February 9 to February 28, 2027.
Last month, the Union government notified 40 questions, which, among others, will ask the respondents to record their “caste” during the population enumeration exercise in the second phase.
The questions that have been added for the first time are — spouse’s name, nationality, father’s particulars and mother’s particulars, digital literacy, permanent residential address, place of Covid-19 vaccination, number of bank accounts, passport number, driving licence availability and mobile, Aadhaar and voter ID numbers, if available.
Published – September 17, 2026 05:42 am IST
