Politics of Chandigarh Chandigarh Union Territory of Chandigarh
Union Territory
The Open Hand Monument in Chandigarh
Nickname:  The City Beautiful
Coordinates: 30°45′N 76°47′E / 30.75°N 76.78°E / 30.75; 76.78
Country	India
Region	Northern India
Completed	1960
Formation	1 Nov 1966
Named for	Hindu devi चंडी/चण्डिका Chandi/Chandika
Government
• Type	Union government (Centre exercises direct control over the Union Territory)
• Body	Government of India
• Administrator	Banwarilal Purohit
• Adviser	Manoj K Parida IAS AGMUT
• Secretary Home	A K Gupta IAS Hy
• Secretary Finance	A K Sinha IAS Pb
Area
• Union Territory	114 km2 (44 sq mi)
• Rank	33
Elevation	350 m (1,150 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Union Territory	1,054,686
• Rank	29th
• Density	9,300/km2 (24,000/sq mi)
• Metro [1]	960,787
	[2]
Language
• Official[3]	English [4][5]
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	160XXX
Telephone code	+91-172-XXX-XXXX
ISO 3166 code	IN-CH
Vehicle registration	CH-01 to CH-04 and PB-01
HDI	0.792
HDI Category	high
Literacy	81.9
Website	chandigarh.nic.in
The city of Chandigarh comprises all of the union territory's area

Chandigarh is a city and a union territory in the northern part of India that serves as the capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. As a union territory, the city is ruled directly by the Union Government of India and is not part of either state.

The city of Chandigarh was the first planned city in India post-independence in 1947 and is known internationally for its architecture and urban design.^[6]

Normally any place in India has representation at 3 levels: National (Parliament), State (Legislative Assembly) & local (Municipality or Panchayat). Chandigarh being a city-state, and a Union Territory does not have a legislative assembly of its own, even though it hosts the legislative assemblies of two states Punjab & Haryana, being a common capital of both states. It has its own Municipal Corporation (MCC), which acts as the local governing authority of Chandigarh. The MCC is one of the most powerful local authorities in India as it serves both as a regional and local authority.

Legislative Assembly (Before 1966)

From 1952 to 1966 (the year Haryana was carved out of Punjab) Chandigarh was the capital of Punjab. Citizens of the city were represented in the state's Legislative Assembly and a Chief Commissioner headed the local administration. While Punjab had remained undivided, Chandigarh, like other large cities of India, fitted into the larger framework of the state administration. When Punjab was divided, both Punjab and Haryana claimed the new city for its capital. Pending resolution of the issue, the Central Government made Chandigarh a Union Territory (under Section 4 of the Punjab Re-organisation Act, 1966, with effect from 1 November 1966) with its administration functioning directly under the Central Government. Under the provisions of this Act, the laws in force in the erstwhile State of Punjab before 1 November 1966, continue to apply to the Union Territory of Chandigarh.^[7]

Administrator (After 1966)

Up to 31 May 1984, the Administrator of the UT was designated as "Chief Commissioner". On 1 June 1984, the Governor of Punjab has been functioning as the Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh and Chief Commissioner was redesignated as "Adviser to the Administrator". List of Administrators of Chandigarh is as follows:^[8]

Parliamentary Constituency

Presently the city is represented in Indian Parliament by Mrs. Kiran Kher of BJP.^[9] Before her, Mr. Pawan Bansal of Congress was MP from Chandigarh. He became Minister of Railways but had to quit due to corruption charges.

Local politics

Mrs Raj Bala Malik is the mayor of the city.^[10]

References