Around 40 BBY, a census was carried out in the Pijal system to count the Pijali citizens residing on the Inner Rim planet Pijal and its moon. After its conclusion, the Czerka Corporation altered the official copy of the census's results to make it appear as if the moon had fewer citizens, allowing for the Governance Treaty initiative to be crafted in a way that would lessen lunar representation.
In 40 BBY, the Opposition performance group leader Halin Azucca alerted Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, about the tampering during the pair's mission to the Pijal system. The Jedi pair verified her claims after comparing the altered copy of the census records to the local records kept in the Pijali palace's library.
During the Republic Era, the Jedi Rael Averross was sent to serve as regent for the Inner Rim planet Pijal until the Pijali Princess Fanry was old enough to ascend the throne. As Fanry's coronation approached, Averross worked with representatives from the Czerka Corporation on the Governance Treaty initiative, which would form the Pijali monarchy into a representative government and allow the new Assembly to open the Pijal Hyperspace Corridor hyperspace route in conjunction with the Galactic Republic.
Around 40 BBY, a census was carried out in the Pijal system that counted the residents of Pijal and its moon, having been conducted to gather data for drafting the Governance Treaty and establishing the ratios of citizen representatives in the system's new Assembly. At the count's conclusion—which placed seventy percent of the system's population as from Pijal and thirty percent as from its moon—the official results and copies of the local census records were stored in the royal palace's library.
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi investigated the Czerka Corporation's falsification of census records while on Pijal.
Not long afterward, Czerka officials took the event's official results and falsified a copy of them to lessen the population count of Pijal's moon. The Governance Treaty was then drafted to give lunar residents less representation than they should have been given in a fair proportion and further justify the company's extensive mining operations on the moon. At some point, the falsification of results was discovered by Halin Azucca, the leader of the Opposition—a group of performers who had been protesting the Governance Treaty—who had been blamed for several attacks throughout the Pijal system. Although the Opposition attempted to voice their displeasure with the lack of fair representation for lunar citizens, Averross ignored their pleas.
During Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi's mission to the Pijal system in 40 BBY, Azucca informed the pair of Czerka's attempt to obscure the true population of Pijal's moon. Jinn and Kenobi later investigated the leader's information, comparing the palace's local census records to the altered official copy also stored there to verify Azucca's claims. Eventually, the Jedi cleared the Opposition's name and helped the new Assembly come into power after Fanry's coronation ended in bloodshed, with the Governance Treaty having not been signed.
The census was mentioned in Master & Apprentice, a 2019 novel written by Claudia Gray.