Mumbai, May 1 -- The first phase of the 2027 Census will begin from May 1, celebrated as Maharashtra Day, with self-enumeration by citizens for the initial two weeks. From May 16, nearly 264,000 field enumerators and supervisors will fan out across the state, visiting every home, while the third and crucial phase that includes caste-based enumeration will be undertaken in February 2027, Chief Principal Census Officer for Maharashtra Nirupama Dange said during a media briefing on Thursday. "This is the first time that citizens have been given the option of self-enumeration, via a form that has 33 questions," Dange told reporters. The form will be available on a dedicated web portal (https://se.census.gov.in) developed by the offices of the registrar general and the census commissioner, and all personal information collected during the census will be kept strictly confidential. The information will not be used for any police investigations, court proceedings, or government verification, and it will be kept outside the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the census officer said. Dange appealed to citizens to voluntarily participate in the process by visiting the official portal, and clarified that only one member per household could fill out the self-enumeration details; all family members were not required to do so individually. To complete self-enumeration, individuals must obtain a self-enumeration identity (SE ID) via their registered mobile number or email, and no documents would have to be uploaded on the portal during this process. When census officials visit homes, citizens must provide their SE ID for verification, confirmation, and final submission of the recorded data, Dange said....