State / UT
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh is a state of the Indian Union, first formed on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act as the country's first state constituted on linguistic lines, and reconstituted on 2 June 2014 when the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 carved Telangana out of it. The residuary state had a population of 4.96 crore at the 2011 Census, sends 25 members to the Lok Sabha and 11 to the Rajya Sabha, and is one of a minority of Indian states with a bicameral legislature — a 175-seat Legislative Assembly and a 58-seat Legislative Council that was abolished in 1985 and revived in 2007. What structurally defines it is that it is a successor state still building its own institutional seat: bifurcation left it without a capital city, and the location and financing of that capital, along with the Polavaram irrigation project designated a national project by the same 2014 Act, remain the state's central contests with the Union and within itself.
Updated
- Capital
- Amaravati
- Formed
- 1 November 1956 (States Reorganisation Act); reconstituted 2 June 2014 on bifurcation
- Legislature
- Bicameral — Legislative Assembly 175 seats; Legislative Council 58 seats
- Lok Sabha seats
- 25
- Rajya Sabha seats
- 11
- Population (2011 Census)
- 4,95,77,103 (residuary state, post-bifurcation boundaries)
Role
Andhra Pradesh is a state of the Indian Union whose government exercises the State List powers — police and law and order, land and land revenue, agriculture and irrigation, public health, school education, local bodies and the state services — through a Council of Ministers responsible to a directly elected 175-seat Legislative Assembly, with a Governor as the constitutional head appointed by the Union. It is one of a small group of Indian states with a second chamber: the 58-seat Legislative Council, abolished by Parliament in 1985 and revived in 2007, which gives the state’s legislative process an indirectly elected house drawn from local authorities, graduates, teachers, MLAs and nominees. In the Union, the state carries 25 Lok Sabha seats and 11 Rajya Sabha seats and a 2011 Census population of just under five crore within its present boundaries, which places it among the larger states without being among the largest.
What makes Andhra Pradesh structurally distinctive is that it is a successor state. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 did not merely redraw a boundary; it left the state without a capital city, dividing institutions and assets with Telangana and allowing Hyderabad to serve as a common capital for a period that expired on 2 June 2024. Everything that follows from that — a greenfield capital at Amaravati assembled by pooling land from farmers rather than acquiring it, a decentralisation law that would have split capital functions across three cities and was enacted in 2020 and withdrawn in 2021, litigation that reached the High Court and then the Supreme Court over whether a state may relocate its own capital, and the Polavaram irrigation project that the same Act declared a national project and placed under a central authority — is a continuing negotiation between the state and the Centre, and between the state’s own regions, over the physical and financial terms of its reconstitution. As of 2026-07-17 the capital is Amaravati, construction there resumed in June 2024 after the general election, and Polavaram remains unfinished. Andhra Pradesh’s economy is coastal and port-facing, resting on the Krishna and Godavari deltas and on industrial and port development along the Bay of Bengal, and its fiscal relationship with the Union has been shaped since 2014 by claims arising from the terms of bifurcation.
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Timeline since 1947
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Andhra State separated from Madras State
The Telugu-speaking districts of Madras State were constituted as Andhra State, with Kurnool as capital — the first Indian state created on a linguistic claim, following a fast-unto-death in 1952.
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Andhra Pradesh formed under the States Reorganisation Act
Andhra State merged with the Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad State to form Andhra Pradesh, with Hyderabad as capital. The merger was preceded by the 1956 Gentlemen's Agreement, which set out safeguards for the Telangana region.
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Legislative Council abolished
The state's upper house was wound up by an Act of Parliament under Article 169, leaving the legislature unicameral for two decades.
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Legislative Council revived
Parliament legislated to re-create the Council in 2005; presidential assent followed on 11 January 2006 and the house was reconstituted on 30 March 2007 with 58 seats (50 elected, 8 nominated). A 2020 Assembly resolution to abolish it again was subsequently withdrawn.
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Bifurcation: Telangana carved out under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014
The appointed day for the Act. The residuary state retained 175 Assembly seats, 25 Lok Sabha seats and 11 Rajya Sabha seats, and lost its capital: Hyderabad was designated a common capital for both successor states for a period not exceeding ten years. The Act also designated Polavaram a national project and created the Polavaram Project Authority.
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Amaravati assembled by land pooling
A voluntary Land Pooling Scheme announced in early 2015 gathered roughly 33,000 acres from farmers between Vijayawada and Guntur for a greenfield capital — a consent-based mechanism rather than compulsory acquisition. The foundation stone was laid at Uddandarayunipalem on 22 October 2015.
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Three-capitals law given assent
Legislation introduced in December 2019 proposed distributing capital functions across Amaravati (legislative), Visakhapatnam (executive) and Kurnool (judicial). It received the Governor's assent on 31 July 2020 and triggered sustained protests by land-pooling farmers.
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Three-capitals law withdrawn
The state withdrew the decentralisation legislation. On 5 March 2022 the Andhra Pradesh High Court held that the state could not abandon Amaravati as capital and had to continue its development; the state carried the question to the Supreme Court, leaving the capital's legal status unsettled for a further period.
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Common-capital period lapses; new Assembly constituted; Amaravati works restart
The ten-year window in which Hyderabad served as common capital under the 2014 Act ran out on 2 June 2024. Polling for the 175-seat Assembly was held on 13 May 2024 with an 81.86% turnout and results declared on 4 June; the incoming government restarted stalled capital construction at Amaravati from 8 June 2024.
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Polavaram remains under construction as a national project
The multipurpose Godavari project, given national-project status and a statutory authority by the 2014 Act, remained incomplete: reported civil works progress was around 77% in September 2024, with a new diaphragm wall targeted for April 2026 and the power station later. Cost estimates have been revised repeatedly since the 2017-18 base.
Frequently asked
- What is Andhra Pradesh?
- Andhra Pradesh is a state of the Indian Union, first formed on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act as the country's first state constituted on linguistic lines, and reconstituted on 2 June 2014 when the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 carved Telangana out of it. The residuary state had a population of 4.96 crore at the 2011 Census, sends 25 members to the Lok Sabha and 11 to the Rajya Sabha, and is one of a minority of Indian states with a bicameral legislature — a 175-seat Legislative Assembly and a 58-seat Legislative Council that was abolished in 1985 and revived in 2007. What structurally defines it is that it is a successor state still building its own institutional seat: bifurcation left it without a capital city, and the location and financing of that capital, along with the Polavaram irrigation project designated a national project by the same 2014 Act, remain the state's central contests with the Union and within itself.
- When was Andhra Pradesh established?
- Andhra Pradesh was established 1956-11-01.
- What does Andhra Pradesh do?
- Its remit covers State List subjects: law and order and the state police, land and land revenue, agriculture and irrigation, public health, school and higher education, local government and state public services, A bicameral legislature — 175-seat Legislative Assembly and 58-seat Legislative Council (revived 2007) — making it one of the few states with an upper house, A successor state under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, with statutory arrangements for asset division, a time-limited common capital, and the Polavaram Project Authority, Construction and financing of a greenfield capital at Amaravati assembled through a voluntary land pooling scheme rather than compulsory acquisition, A long coastline and port-led industrial base on the Bay of Bengal, and administration of the Krishna and Godavari deltas.
- What is the latest on Andhra Pradesh?
- As of 2026-07-17: Polavaram remains under construction as a national project. The multipurpose Godavari project, given national-project status and a statutory authority by the 2014 Act, remained incomplete: reported civil works progress was around 77% in September 2024, with a new diaphragm wall targeted for April 2026 and the power station later. Cost estimates have been revised repeatedly since the 2017-18 base.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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Official portal: departments, GOs, citizen services.
www.ap.gov.in/
- Andhra Pradesh Legislature legislation
Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council: members, business, and the text of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
www.aplegislature.org/
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Electoral rolls, general and Legislative Council election records, ECI instructions for the state.
ceoandhra.nic.in/
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Comparable state-level series on domestic product, fiscal position, agriculture and banking; 2024-25 edition is the latest.
www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/AnnualPublications.aspx?head=Handbook