Indian States and Union Territories 2026 : Capitals, CMs and Governors

 

List of Indian States and Union Territories with Capitals, Chief Ministers and Governors – 2026

Updated list of India’s 28 States and 8 Union Territories with their capitals, Chief Ministers, Governors, Lieutenant Governors and Administrators. This topic is important for UPSC, APPSC, TSPSC, SSC, Railway, Banking, Defence, Police SI, Constable and other competitive examinations.

India is a federal union consisting of 28 States and 8 Union Territories. Each State has a Governor as its constitutional head and a Chief Minister as the head of the elected State Government.

Union Territories are administered by the President through a Lieutenant Governor or Administrator. Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry have Legislative Assemblies and Councils of Ministers. The tables below also include the important political and gubernatorial changes made during 2026.

28 Indian States

8 Union Territories

36 Total States and UTs

Indian States: Capitals, Chief Ministers and Governors – 2026

Mobile users can swipe the table horizontally to view all columns. Rows highlighted in light orange contain important 2026 changes.

No.	State	Capital	Chief Minister	Governor
1	Andhra Pradesh	Amaravati	N. Chandrababu Naidu	Justice S. Abdul Nazeer (Retd.)
2	Arunachal Pradesh	Itanagar	Pema Khandu	Lt. Gen. K. T. Parnaik (Retd.)
3	Assam	Dispur	Himanta Biswa Sarma	Lakshman Prasad Acharya
4	Bihar	Patna	Samrat Choudhary 2026	Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd.) 2026
5	Chhattisgarh	Raipur	Vishnu Deo Sai	Ramen Deka
6	Goa	Panaji	Pramod Sawant	P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju
7	Gujarat	Gandhinagar	Bhupendra Patel	Acharya Devvrat
8	Haryana	Chandigarh	Nayab Singh Saini	Prof. Ashim Kumar Ghosh
9	Himachal Pradesh	Shimla	Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu	Kavinder Gupta 2026
10	Jharkhand	Ranchi	Hemant Soren	Santosh Kumar Gangwar
11	Karnataka	Bengaluru	Siddaramaiah	Thaawarchand Gehlot
12	Kerala	Thiruvananthapuram	V. D. Satheesan 2026	Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar
13	Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal	Mohan Yadav	Mangubhai C. Patel
14	Maharashtra	Mumbai	Devendra Fadnavis	Jishnu Dev Varma 2026
15	Manipur	Imphal	Y. Khemchand Singh 2026	Ajay Kumar Bhalla
16	Meghalaya	Shillong	Conrad K. Sangma	C. H. Vijayashankar
17	Mizoram	Aizawl	Lalduhoma	Gen. (Dr.) V. K. Singh (Retd.)
18	Nagaland	Kohima	Neiphiu Rio	Nand Kishore Yadav 2026
19	Odisha	Bhubaneswar	Mohan Charan Majhi	Hari Babu Kambhampati
20	Punjab	Chandigarh	Bhagwant Mann	Gulab Chand Kataria
21	Rajasthan	Jaipur	Bhajan Lal Sharma	Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde
22	Sikkim	Gangtok	Prem Singh Tamang	Om Prakash Mathur
23	Tamil Nadu	Chennai	C. Joseph Vijay 2026	Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar Discharging Functions
24	Telangana	Hyderabad	A. Revanth Reddy	Shiv Pratap Shukla 2026
25	Tripura	Agartala	Manik Saha	N. Indra Sena Reddy
26	Uttar Pradesh	Lucknow	Yogi Adityanath	Anandiben Patel
27	Uttarakhand	Dehradun – Winter Gairsain – Summer	Pushkar Singh Dhami	Lt. Gen. Gurmit Singh (Retd.)
28	West Bengal	Kolkata	Suvendu Adhikari 2026	R. N. Ravi 2026

Union Territories: Capitals, Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors – 2026

A Chief Minister is shown only for a Union Territory having an elected Council of Ministers.

No.	Union Territory	Capital	Chief Minister	Lieutenant Governor / Administrator
1	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Sri Vijaya Puram	Not Applicable	Admiral D. K. Joshi (Retd.)
2	Chandigarh	Chandigarh	Not Applicable	Gulab Chand Kataria Administrator
3	Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	Daman	Not Applicable	Prafulbhai Khodabhai Patel Administrator
4	Delhi – National Capital Territory	New Delhi	Rekha Gupta	Taranjit Singh Sandhu 2026
5	Jammu and Kashmir	Srinagar – Summer Jammu – Winter	Omar Abdullah	Manoj Sinha
6	Ladakh	Leh	Not Applicable	Vinai Kumar Saxena 2026
7	Lakshadweep	Kavaratti	Not Applicable	Prafulbhai Khodabhai Patel Additional Charge
8	Puducherry	Puducherry	N. Rangasamy	K. Kailashnathan

Important Facts for Competitive Exams

• India consists of 28 States and 8 Union Territories.
• Chandigarh is the common capital of Punjab and Haryana and is itself a Union Territory.
• Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry are the three Union Territories having Legislative Assemblies.
• Sri Vijaya Puram, formerly known as Port Blair, is the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Jammu and Kashmir has seasonal capitals: Srinagar in summer and Jammu in winter.
• Uttarakhand recognises Gairsain as its summer capital and Dehradun as its winter capital.
• The Governor of Punjab also functions as the Administrator of Chandigarh.
• In March 2026, Shiv Pratap Shukla was appointed Governor of Telangana, while Jishnu Dev Varma was appointed Governor of Maharashtra.
• R. N. Ravi was appointed Governor of West Bengal, and Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar was asked to discharge the functions of Governor of Tamil Nadu.
• Taranjit Singh Sandhu became Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, while Vinai Kumar Saxena became Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.

10 Difficult MCQs on Indian States, Capitals, Chief Ministers and Governors – 2026

Test your knowledge of the latest Chief Ministers, Governors, Lieutenant Governors, capitals and constitutional arrangements of Indian States and Union Territories. Click any option. The selected wrong answer will turn red, the correct answer will turn green, and the explanation will appear automatically.

1. Which pair correctly represents the gubernatorial transfers made in March 2026?

[A] Shiv Pratap Shukla – Telangana; Jishnu Dev Varma – Maharashtra [B] Shiv Pratap Shukla – Maharashtra; Jishnu Dev Varma – Telangana [C] Shiv Pratap Shukla – Bihar; Jishnu Dev Varma – Himachal Pradesh [D] Shiv Pratap Shukla – West Bengal; Jishnu Dev Varma – Nagaland

Correct Answer: [A] Shiv Pratap Shukla – Telangana; Jishnu Dev Varma – Maharashtra

Notes: Shiv Pratap Shukla was transferred from Himachal Pradesh to Telangana. Jishnu Dev Varma was transferred from Telangana to Maharashtra in March 2026.

2. Consider the following statements regarding the March 2026 appointments:

1. R. N. Ravi was appointed Governor of West Bengal.
2. Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar was asked to discharge the functions of Governor of Tamil Nadu.
3. Kavinder Gupta was appointed Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

[A] 1 and 2 only [B] 2 and 3 only [C] 1 and 3 only [D] 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: [D] 1, 2 and 3

Notes: All three statements are correct. R. N. Ravi moved from Tamil Nadu to West Bengal, Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar was assigned the functions of Governor of Tamil Nadu, and Kavinder Gupta became Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

3. Which option correctly matches the Lieutenant Governors of Delhi and Ladakh after the 2026 reshuffle?

[A] Delhi – Vinai Kumar Saxena; Ladakh – Taranjit Singh Sandhu [B] Delhi – Taranjit Singh Sandhu; Ladakh – Vinai Kumar Saxena [C] Delhi – Manoj Sinha; Ladakh – Kavinder Gupta [D] Delhi – Gulab Chand Kataria; Ladakh – Manoj Sinha

Correct Answer: [B] Delhi – Taranjit Singh Sandhu; Ladakh – Vinai Kumar Saxena

Notes: Taranjit Singh Sandhu was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. Vinai Kumar Saxena, who had been Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.

4. Which State–Chief Minister–Governor combination is correctly matched as of 13 July 2026?

[A] Bihar – Samrat Choudhary – Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain [B] Bihar – Nitish Kumar – Arif Mohammed Khan [C] Bihar – Samrat Choudhary – Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar [D] Bihar – Y. Khemchand Singh – Ajay Kumar Bhalla

Correct Answer: [A] Bihar – Samrat Choudhary – Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain

Notes: Samrat Choudhary became Chief Minister of Bihar in 2026. Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain was appointed Governor of Bihar under the March 2026 gubernatorial appointments.

5. Who holds a State gubernatorial office and simultaneously functions as the Administrator of Chandigarh?

[A] Shiv Pratap Shukla [B] Gulab Chand Kataria [C] Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde [D] Acharya Devvrat

Correct Answer: [B] Gulab Chand Kataria

Notes: Gulab Chand Kataria is the Governor of Punjab and also serves as the Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

6. Which group contains only Union Territories having Legislative Assemblies?

[A] Delhi, Chandigarh and Puducherry [B] Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry [C] Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Delhi [D] Delhi, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Correct Answer: [B] Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry

Notes: These are the three Union Territories having Legislative Assemblies. The remaining five Union Territories do not have Legislative Assemblies.

7. Consider the following pairs:

1. Jammu and Kashmir – Srinagar in summer and Jammu in winter
2. Uttarakhand – Gairsain in summer and Dehradun in winter
3. Chandigarh – Common capital of Punjab and Haryana

Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

[A] 1 only [B] 1 and 2 only [C] 2 and 3 only [D] 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: [D] 1, 2 and 3

Notes: Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand have seasonal-capital arrangements. Chandigarh is the common capital of Punjab and Haryana, while also being a Union Territory.

8. Consider the following Chief Minister–State pairs as of July 2026:

1. V. D. Satheesan – Kerala
2. C. Joseph Vijay – Tamil Nadu
3. Suvendu Adhikari – West Bengal

Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

[A] 1 only [B] 1 and 2 only [C] 2 and 3 only [D] 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: [D] 1, 2 and 3

Notes: V. D. Satheesan is the Chief Minister of Kerala, C. Joseph Vijay is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Suvendu Adhikari is the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

9. Which Chief Minister–Governor combination is correctly matched with Manipur?

[A] N. Biren Singh – Lakshman Prasad Acharya [B] Y. Khemchand Singh – Ajay Kumar Bhalla [C] Pema Khandu – K. T. Parnaik [D] Neiphiu Rio – Nand Kishore Yadav

Correct Answer: [B] Y. Khemchand Singh – Ajay Kumar Bhalla

Notes: Y. Khemchand Singh is the Chief Minister of Manipur, while Ajay Kumar Bhalla is the Governor of Manipur.

10. Which of the following Union Territory–Capital–Administrator or Lieutenant Governor combinations is incorrectly matched?

[A] Andaman and Nicobar Islands – Sri Vijaya Puram – D. K. Joshi [B] Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu – Daman – Praful Patel [C] Lakshadweep – Kavaratti – Praful Patel [D] Chandigarh – Chandigarh – Taranjit Singh Sandhu

Correct Answer: [D] Chandigarh – Chandigarh – Taranjit Singh Sandhu

Notes: The combination in option [D] is incorrect. Gulab Chand Kataria, the Governor of Punjab, functions as the Administrator of Chandigarh. Taranjit Singh Sandhu is the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many States and Union Territories are there in India in 2026?

India has 28 States and 8 Union Territories, making a total of 36 State and Union Territory administrative units.

Which Union Territories have Legislative Assemblies?

Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry are the three Union Territories having Legislative Assemblies.

Who is the constitutional head of an Indian State?

The Governor is the constitutional head of a State. The Chief Minister is the head of the elected State Government.

Which city is the common capital of Punjab and Haryana?

Chandigarh is the common capital of Punjab and Haryana. Chandigarh is also a separate Union Territory.

Why should the Chief Ministers and Governors list be revised regularly?

Chief Ministers may change after elections or political developments, while Governors and Lieutenant Governors may be appointed, transferred or assigned additional functions by the President of India.

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Official information sources:

• National Portal of India – Chief Ministers
• National Portal of India – Governors
• National Portal of India – Lieutenant Governors and Administrators
• President of India – Governor and Lieutenant Governor Appointments, 5 March 2026
• Ministry of Home Affairs – Union Territories

Political and constitutional appointments may change. This article was checked and updated on 13 July 2026. Readers may report any subsequent official change through the comment section.

Please comment below if you find any correction or newly announced change.

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