India is a country in southern Asia. With over 1.3 billion people, India is the most populous democracy in the world. It is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 28 states and 8 union territories.[1] All states, as well as the union territories of Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments, both patterned on the Westminster model. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the centre through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis.[2] Since then, their structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is further divided into administrative districts.
The state and union territory capitals are sorted according to no legislative and judicial capitals. The administrative capital is where the executive government offices are located, the legislative capital is where the state assembly convenes, and the judicial capital is the location of the state or territorial High Courts. Union territories are marked with a dagger (†).
State or union territory |
Administrative capitals | Legislative capitals | Judiciary capitals | Year capital was established | The Former capital |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands † | Port Blair | Port Blair | Kolkata | 1955 | Calcutta (1945–1955) |
Andhra Pradesh | Visakhapatnam | Amaravati [3] | Kurnool With high court benches in Visakhapatnam and Amaravati | 1956 | Kurnool (1953-1956) Hyderabad(1956-2014) Amaravati(2014-2020) |
Arunachal Pradesh | Itanagar | Itanagar | Guwahati | 1986 | |
Assam | Dispur | Guwahati | Guwahati | 1975 | Shillong[a] (1874–1952) |
Bihar | Patna | Patna | Patna | 1912 | |
Chandigarh † | Chandigarh[b] | — | Chandigarh | 1966 | — |
Chhattisgarh | Naya Raipur[c] | Raipur | Bilaspur | 2000 | — |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli † | Silvassa | — | Mumbai | 1945 | Mumbai (1954–1961) Panaji (1961–1987) |
Daman and Diu † | Daman | — | Mumbai | 1987 | Ahmedabad (1961–1963) Panaji (1963–1987) |
National Capital Territory of Delhi † | New Delhi | New Delhi | New Delhi | 1931 | — |
Goa | Panaji[d] | Porvorim | Mumbai | 1961 | Panaji (1961–1987) |
Gujarat | Gandhinagar | Gandhinagar | Ahmedabad | 1960 | Ahmedabad (1960–1970) |
Haryana | Chandigarh | Chandigarh | Chandigarh | 1966 | — |
Himachal Pradesh | Shimla
Dharamshala (W/2nd)[7] |
Shimla (Summer)
Dharamsala(Winter) |
Shimla | 1971
2017 |
Bilaspur (1950–1956) |
Jammu and Kashmir | Srinagar (Summer) Jammu (Winter) |
Srinagar (Summer) Jammu (Winter) |
Srinagar (Summer) Jammu (Winter) |
1947 | — |
Jharkhand | Ranchi | Ranchi | Ranchi | 2000 | |
Karnataka | Bengaluru | Bengaluru | Bengaluru | 1940 | (Mysore) |
Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | Thiruvananthapuram | Kochi | 1956 | |
Lakshadweep † | Kavaratti | Kavaratti | Kochi | 1956 | |
Madhya Pradesh | Bhopal | Bhopal | Jabalpur | 1956 | Nagpur[e] (1861–1956) |
Maharashtra | Mumbai[f] Nagpur (W/2nd)[g] |
Mumbai (S+B) Nagpur (W)[h] |
Mumbai | 1818 1960 |
— |
Manipur | Imphal | Imphal | Imphal | 1947 | — |
Meghalaya | Shillong | Shillong | Shillong | 1970 | — |
Mizoram | Aizawl | Aizawl | Guwahati | 1972 | — |
Nagaland | Kohima | Kohima | Guwahati | 1963 | — |
Odisha | Bhubaneswar | Bhubaneswar | Cuttack | 1948 | Cuttack (1936–1948) |
Puducherry † | Puducherry | Puducherry | Chennai | 1954 | Madras (1948–1954) |
Punjab | Chandigarh | Chandigarh | Chandigarh | 1966 | |
Rajasthan | Jaipur | Jaipur | Jodhpur | 1950 | — |
Sikkim | Gangtok[i] | Gangtok | Gangtok | 1890 | — |
Tamil Nadu | Chennai[j] | Chennai | Chennai | 1956 | |
Telangana | Hyderabad[k] | Hyderabad | Hyderabad | 2014 | — |
Tripura | Agartala | Agartala | Agartala | 1956 | — |
Uttar Pradesh | Lucknow | Lucknow | Prayagraj | 1938 | — |
Uttarakhand | Dehradun[l] | Dehradun | Nainital | 2000 | — |
West Bengal | Kolkata | Kolkata | Kolkata | 1947 |