PATNA, April 27 -- Vaishali district has emerged as the top performer in Bihar's ongoing online self enumeration phase of Census 2027, recording over 4.12 lakh submissions out of the state's total 24.35 lakh completed entries as of Saturday (5pm), officials from the directorate of census operations said on Sunday. Madhubani followed closely with 3.97 lakh self enumerations, while Khagaria (1.28 lakh), Gopalganj and Bhojpur (1.26 lakh each) rounded out the top five districts. State capital Patna, despite its higher levels of urbanisation and digital literacy, ranked sixth with more than 1.25 lakh self enumerations completed in the eight days since the exercise began on April 17. Aurangabad (97,385), West Champaran (79,722), Darbhanga (77,223) and Rohtas (66,311) completed the list of the 10 best-performing districts. Officials said six days remained in the self enumeration phase, which would last till May 1. The exercise has gathered pace significantly since its launch, when approximately 32,000 people completed self enumeration on the first day. Early participants included governor Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, CM Samrat Choudhary, Patna HC chief justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo, legislative assembly speaker Prem Kumar and legislative council chairperson Awadhesh Narain Singh. On the inaugural day, Vaishali recorded 5,923 entries, while Patna logged 2,317. By the eighth day, the state's daily average had surged to 3.04 lakh entries - nearly ten times the opening day figure - reflecting growing public participation. Launching the initiative on April 17 at the CM's secretariat, Choudhary urged citizens to participate actively. "Through self enumeration or by assisting enumerators, people should contribute to ensuring an accurate, inclusive, and reliable census. Census 2027 will lay a strong foundation for the bright future of Bihar and the country," he said. Following the self enumeration phase, nearly 2.60 lakh enumerators and supervisors will be deployed across all 38 districts for the door-to-door house listing and housing census from May 2 to May 31. Officials said those who have missed the online self enumeration would still be covered during the field exercise. Those who complete self enumeration must confirm their online entries when the enumerator visits by providing their 12-digit alpha-numeric enumeration ID. "We are in the process of completing the training of all field staff, including enumerators and supervisors, who will start visiting households from May 2," an official from the census directorate said, adding that most of the personnel had been drawn from the teaching community. The self enumeration questionnaire comprises 33 largely objective questions aimed at capturing household-level data on living conditions, amenities, demographic composition and asset ownership. Officials said the exercise was designed as a standardised socio-economic profiling tool to support evidence-based policymaking, welfare planning and infrastructure development....