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State / UT

Delhi (NCT)

Delhi is the National Capital Territory of India — a Union Territory that the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 gave a directly elected Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers, making it the only capital in the Republic where a state-style elected government and the Union administer the same ground. Article 239AA withholds from that Assembly the three subjects that normally define a state government's authority — public order, police, and land — leaving them with the Union through the Lieutenant Governor. Its economy is among the richest per head in India, with per capita GSDP estimated at Rs 5,12,131 in 2023-24 against an all-India per capita GDP of Rs 2,15,935. What makes Delhi structurally distinctive is not its size but its unresolved constitutional settlement: the boundary between the elected government and the Union has been litigated to the Supreme Court twice and rewritten by Parliament twice since 2018.

Updated

Capital
New Delhi (Delhi Secretariat, I.P. Estate)
Formed
Union Territory with a Legislative Assembly under the Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991
Legislature
Unicameral — Legislative Assembly of the NCT of Delhi (Vidhan Sabha), 70 seats
Lok Sabha seats
7
Population (2011 Census)
1.68 crore (approx. 16.79 million)
Per capita GSDP (2023-24)
Rs 5,12,131 (all-India per capita GDP: Rs 2,15,935)
Budget expenditure (2025-26 BE)
Rs 95,358 crore, excluding debt repayment
Coverage since 19878 recorded events ·100% from official & primary sources
1985–1989: 1 event1990–1994: 1 event1990200020102015–2019: 1 event2020–2024: 4 events20202025–2026: 1 event

Role

Delhi is the constitutional exception in India’s federal design: a Union Territory that carries an elected legislature. The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991 inserted Articles 239AA and 239AB to give the National Capital Territory a 70-seat unicameral Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers, following the 1987 Balakrishnan Committee’s recommendation that Delhi acquire representative government without acquiring statehood. The Assembly legislates on the State List and the Concurrent List as they apply to Union Territories, but Article 239AA(3)(a) carves out Entries 1, 2 and 18 — public order, police, and land — so the elected government of the national capital does not command its police force or dispose of its land. Those subjects sit with the Union, exercised through the Lieutenant Governor. The Supreme Court in 2018 called this arrangement sui generis; in practice it means two governments with democratic mandates of different kinds occupy the same territory, and the line between them is drawn by litigation and by Parliament rather than settled in the constitutional text.

Delhi’s weight in the Union is economic and symbolic more than numerical. It sends 7 members to the Lok Sabha — fewer than a mid-sized state — but its per capita GSDP, estimated at Rs 5,12,131 for 2023-24, runs at more than twice the national figure, and its 2025-26 budget put expenditure excluding debt repayment at Rs 95,358 crore. The Union’s stake in the territory is direct: New Delhi houses Parliament, the Supreme Court, the ministries and the diplomatic corps, which is the standing justification offered for retaining police, public order and land at the Centre. The last decade has made the boundary itself the defining feature of the institution. A 2018 Constitution Bench bound the Lieutenant Governor to the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers on subjects within the Assembly’s competence; the GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2021 redefined “government” in Assembly-made law to mean the Lieutenant Governor; a 2023 Constitution Bench placed services under Delhi’s Entry 41 competence; and the GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2023 routed services through a National Capital Civil Services Authority on which the Lieutenant Governor holds the override. The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022 ran the same pattern one tier down, merging three corporations into one and moving delimitation and the commissioner to the Union. Each of these moves is a lawful exercise of Article 239AA(3)(b), which reserves to Parliament the power to legislate on any matter for a Union Territory — which is why Delhi’s settlement has been rewritten repeatedly rather than fixed once.

Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution. [“Why is Delhi not a full state, and what powers does the Delhi government not have?”, “Who controls services, police and land in Delhi — the elected government or the Lieutenant Governor?”, “What did the Supreme Court’s 2023 judgment on Delhi services decide, and how did the GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2023 change it?”]

Timeline since 1947

  1. reference

    Balakrishnan Committee recommends a legislature without statehood

    The Committee reported that Delhi should remain a Union Territory but be given a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers with constitutional safeguards. Its formula — an elected government inside a Union Territory — became the architecture of Article 239AA and the source of every subsequent dispute about where the elected government ends and the Union begins.

    source 1

  2. official

    Constitution (69th Amendment) Act inserts Articles 239AA and 239AB

    The amendment created the National Capital Territory of Delhi with a 70-seat Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers, and the Government of NCT of Delhi Act, 1991 supplied the operating detail. Article 239AA(3)(a) withheld Entries 1, 2 and 18 of the State List — public order, police, and land — from the Assembly's competence.

    source 1source 2

  3. official

    Supreme Court Constitution Bench: the Lieutenant Governor is bound by aid and advice

    In Government of NCT of Delhi v. Union of India the Constitution Bench held that on matters within the Assembly's competence the Lieutenant Governor is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, and that such advice is not merely recommendatory. The Court described Delhi as occupying a unique position among Union Territories, with the elected government holding exclusive executive authority over subjects within the Assembly's legislative purview.

    source 1

  4. reference

    GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2021 redefines 'government' as the Lieutenant Governor

    Parliament passed the Bill in the Lok Sabha on 22 March and the Rajya Sabha on 24 March 2021. It provided that 'government' in laws made by the Assembly means the Lieutenant Governor, required his opinion before executive action on specified matters, barred the Assembly from making rules to examine day-to-day administration, and widened the LG's duty to reserve bills for the President.

    source 1

  5. reference

    Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022 unifies the three corporations

    The Act merged the North, South and East Delhi municipal corporations into a single Municipal Corporation of Delhi and reduced councillor seats from 272 to a maximum of 250. It transferred seat allocation, ward delimitation and oversight of the commissioner from the Delhi government to the Union government. Passed by the Lok Sabha on 30 March and the Rajya Sabha on 5 April 2022.

    source 1

  6. official

    Supreme Court Constitution Bench: services fall within Delhi's competence

    The Bench held that the NCT of Delhi has legislative and executive power over services under Entry 41 of the State List, reading the phrase 'insofar as any such matter is applicable to Union Territories' in Article 239AA(3)(a) as inclusive rather than exclusive. It grounded the holding in a triple chain of accountability — civil servants to ministers, ministers to the legislature, the legislature to voters — and reaffirmed Delhi's sui generis status, subject to Parliament's overriding power under Article 239AA(3)(b).

    source 1

  7. reference

    GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2023 creates the National Capital Civil Services Authority

    Introduced in the Lok Sabha on 1 August and passed there on 3 August and in the Rajya Sabha on 7 August 2023, the Act displaced the effect of the May 2023 judgment on services. It created a National Capital Civil Services Authority chaired by the Chief Minister with the Chief Secretary and Principal Home Secretary as members, to recommend transfers, postings, vigilance and disciplinary action for senior officials; the Lieutenant Governor may override its recommendations.

    source 1

  8. reference

    Budget for 2025-26 sets expenditure at Rs 95,358 crore

    Expenditure excluding debt repayment was estimated at Rs 95,358 crore for 2025-26, a 48% increase over the previous year's revised estimates. Delhi's GSDP grew 7.4% in 2023-24 against 9.2% for India, while per capita GSDP at current prices was estimated at Rs 5,12,131 — more than twice the all-India figure of Rs 2,15,935.

    source 1

Frequently asked

What is Delhi (NCT)?
Delhi is the National Capital Territory of India — a Union Territory that the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 gave a directly elected Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers, making it the only capital in the Republic where a state-style elected government and the Union administer the same ground. Article 239AA withholds from that Assembly the three subjects that normally define a state government's authority — public order, police, and land — leaving them with the Union through the Lieutenant Governor. Its economy is among the richest per head in India, with per capita GSDP estimated at Rs 5,12,131 in 2023-24 against an all-India per capita GDP of Rs 2,15,935. What makes Delhi structurally distinctive is not its size but its unresolved constitutional settlement: the boundary between the elected government and the Union has been litigated to the Supreme Court twice and rewritten by Parliament twice since 2018.
When was Delhi (NCT) established?
Delhi (NCT) was established 1991 (Constitution 69th Amendment; Legislative Assembly and Council of Ministers under Article 239AA).
What does Delhi (NCT) do?
Its remit covers State List subjects available to the Assembly under Article 239AA(3)(a) — health, education, transport, power distribution, water, revenue and local government, Excluded from the Assembly's competence: Entries 1, 2 and 18 of the State List — public order, police, and land — which remain with the Union, Services (Entry 41) — held by the Supreme Court in 2023 to fall within Delhi's competence, then routed through a Parliament-created National Capital Civil Services Authority in which the Lieutenant Governor holds the final say, A Lieutenant Governor who, on subjects within the Assembly's competence, is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, but who may refer differences to the President, A single unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi, whose seat allocation, ward delimitation and commissioner now sit with the Union government.
What is the latest on Delhi (NCT)?
As of 2026-07-17: Budget for 2025-26 sets expenditure at Rs 95,358 crore. Expenditure excluding debt repayment was estimated at Rs 95,358 crore for 2025-26, a 48% increase over the previous year's revised estimates. Delhi's GSDP grew 7.4% in 2023-24 against 9.2% for India, while per capita GSDP at current prices was estimated at Rs 5,12,131 — more than twice the all-India figure of Rs 2,15,935.

Official sources

The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.

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